Hospitals get new diagnostic tools
Province allocates $120M over 4 years
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 25/10/2011 (5479 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
The Manitoba government is going on a buying spree to replace aging medical diagnostic equipment and install MRIs and CT scanners in hospitals that have never had them before.
Health Minister Theresa Oswald announced Monday the province will spend $120 million over the next four years on the new machines, which should help to reduce wait times.
“When you find out that your husband or your mom or your dad or your uncle or your child is sick, nothing matters more than a swift and accurate diagnosis — and treatment that comes at lightning speed,” Oswald said at a news conference at Grace General Hospital.
The Grace will become Winnipeg’s first community hospital with an magnetic resonance imaging machine. It will also get a new CT scanner to replace an older model.
New MRIs will also be installed at hospitals in Selkirk and Dauphin. Currently, hospitals in Brandon and Morden-Winkler are the only facilities in Manitoba outside Winnipeg to have them.
Wait times for MRIs have risen sharply in recent years as their use increases.
According to the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority’s annual report to be released today, the wait time for an MRI in the city this past March was 17 weeks, compared with 18 weeks in March 2010, 14 weeks in March 2009 and eight weeks in March 2008.
Wait times for CT scans have remained relatively constant at four weeks this past March, compared with three weeks in 2010 and five weeks in both 2009 and 2008. MRI machines take detailed images of the body’s interior. They’re used to detect tumours, certain types of heart problems, liver disease and other abnormalities. There are eight MRI machines in the province now.
Several of the new diagnostic machines promised Monday will replace aging ones. The new equipment works better and, depending on which kind, gives off less radiation.
larry.kusch@freepress.mb.ca