Local medical radioisotope producer continues exports despite lockdown

South African Nuclear Energy Corporation (Necsa) subsidiary company NTP Radioisotopes (NTP) has reported that, since the imposition of South Africa’s national lockdown in late March, it had been able to dispatch more than 120 shipments of medical radioisotopes to customers around the world. Both Necsa and NTP are State-owned companies. Because of a worldwide shift of healthcare priorities to fighting the Covid-19 pandemic, resulting in a decline in demand for nuclear medical treatments, this number is only a small  proportion of what NTP would normally had sent out over this period. However, these shipments have brought the company essential revenue, which has been particularly important given that it had been on the brink of being closed down only a year ago.