Cancer patients in Khabarovsk and Primorsky Krais will not be able to undergo PET and CT scans.
Due to sanctions, GE Healthcare Pharma LLC has stopped supplying radiopharmaceutical synthesis cassettes to the Khabarovsk Cancer Center. These cassettes are used for PET and CT scans—procedures that allow for the most accurate diagnosis of metastases and tumors.
The drug for the procedures was produced at the clinical oncology center in Khabarovsk. From there, it was transported by plane. delivered for patients in Vladivostok. The cassettes were supposed to be delivered on August 5, but the company cited logistical difficulties and restrictions imposed by the EU and the US. Cancer patients are now being sent to Novosibirsk and Moscow—but even in their regions, patients have had to wait up to two months for an appointment.
Sanctions against the Russian economy are already having a significant impact. In its latest study, the Gaidar Institute notes, From early 2022 to mid-2025, "external pressure, initially aimed at targeted depressive effects on individual industries, transformed into systemic isolation: from embargoes and asset freezes to bans on oilfield services and cloud technologies." Sanctions are beginning to impact not only the country's economic sectors but also the social sector.
Khabarovsk Krai is also experiencing problems with equipment for cancer patients: the radiation therapy and PET machines have been out of order for several months. The oncology center lacked funds for repairs and equipment supplies, but the regional Ministry of Health promised
raise this issue in Moscow.
These aren't the only problems at the oncology center. Khabarovsk activist Andrei Shvetsov пишет70 to 80% of the equipment in the pathology department at the oncology center has been out of order for about two years, and there are problems in the endoscopy department. This makes it difficult to perform biopsies and other tests.
The Primorsky Krai promised to build a nuclear medicine center back in 2018, but these plans never materialized. This center would have allowed for drug production beyond Khabarovsk.
