NLIS 2
July 29, 2003
(Health and Community Services)

 

Minister announces additional MRI capacity

Health and Community Services Minister Gerald Smith today announced that a stationary Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) unit will be acquired this year by the Western Health Care Corporation and in the next budget year a MRI unit will be acquired for the Central Region.

"In Healthier Together, our province�s strategic health plan, we outlined our commitment to improve the quality, accessibility and sustainability of the health and community services system. Ensuring that proper diagnostic equipment is available in this province plays a huge part in helping us achieve this goal," said Minister Smith. "These new MRI units will give more people throughout the province access to this technology."

Government first announced its intention to purchase additional MRI capacity for the province in Budget 2003 as part of the $26 million medical and diagnostic equipment fund. Minister Smith explained that the Western and Central MRI units will triple the MRI capacity in the province, permitting shorter waiting lists for people in all regions. People who continue to travel to St. John�s for MRI scans will be processed more quickly because increased capacity will exist elsewhere in the province. It is anticipated that the new unit in Corner Brook will be operational by June 2004 and the unit for the Central Region will be operational later in 2004-05.

The decision regarding the type of MRI unit, fixed or mobile, as well as the location, followed an extensive consultation process. Minister Smith said that he appreciated the expert advice of physicians and health administrators from many regions. One of the results of the consultation process was a recommendation that the province should aim for a total of four MRI units within the next three to five years.

"I am pleased to say that government listened. We have committed to purchasing a fourth unit within the next three to five years for St. John�s to be operated by the Health Care Corporation of St. John�s. This unit will support the Corporation�s provincial mandate for many specialty services, including the teaching and research mandates of the Faculty of Medicine," he said.

The Department of Health and Community Services will immediately establish collaborative planning committees with the health boards in Western and Central Newfoundland to examine procurement, associated renovations and utilization protocols.

"I would like to thank everyone involved in the consultation process for helping us reach this important decision," said Minister Smith. The consultation process flows from a principle in Healthier Together which says that decisions should be made on the basis of the best evidence available.

Magnetic Resonance Imaging is a high technology diagnostic tool that can detect soft tissue problems and is especially useful in more in-depth diagnosis of conditions of the brain and spinal cord. There is currently only one MRI unit in the province, located at the Health Care Corporation of St. John�s.

Media contact: Diane Keough, Communications, (709) 729-1377

2003 07 29                                    11:00 a.m.


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