Target: Xavier Becerra, Secretary of U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Goal: Help suppliers make contrast fluid utilized in diagnostic imaging more readily available.
Global supply chain strains are causing worldwide ramifications in a wide swath of industries. Healthcare facilities across the planet are reporting critical shortages in a substance that is not well-known yet is vital for certain medical procedures: contrast fluid. This dye helps make images clearly show up on MRI scans, CT scans, and X-rays.
Contrast fluid plays a critical role in detecting dangerous medical conditions such as blood clots, artery blockages, and tumors. As such, it could prevent many leading causes of death in the United States like strokes, heart attacks, and cancer. Because of the current shortages, hospitals are rationing supplies and postponing diagnostic procedures that could mean the difference between life and death.
Over three-quarters of the world’s contrast fluid supply is manufactured by a conglomerate that has recently endured a prolonged shut-down of one of its main plants. Sign the petition below to urge national health leaders to invest in a broader range of suppliers so that this dangerous depletion can never happen again.
PETITION LETTER:
Dear Secretary Becerra,
GE Healthcare is dominating the market for diagnostic imaging agents, and the results of this monopoly are painfully apparent in the current drastic shortage of contrast fluid. These dyes are an integral weapon in heart disease, stroke, and cancer prevention, amongst other ailments. Their absence in hospitals endangers lives daily and forces clinical facilities to make crucial rationing and scheduling decisions.
Please become a key ally and advocate in expanding the availability of this important material and in funding a greater number of suppliers. Medical monopolies should not cost lives.
Sincerely,
[Your Name Here]
Photo Credit: Anna Shvets
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