Monday September 28, 2020 | VICTORIA, BC
by Mary P Brooke | Island Social Trends
This morning in his media availability in Victoria outside the Royal Jubilee Hospital, NDP Leader John Horgan said that BC will invest in four new MRI machines.
There are already eight new MRI machines at hospitals in BC, one of those at the Jubilee. A new state-of-the-art PET/CT at the BC Cancer Centre there helps ensure that people on Vancouver Island can get cancer diagnostic services closer to home.
A re-elected BC NDP government will add four new MRI machines in the next year at these facilities: Ridge Meadows in Maple Ridge, Langley Memorial Hospital, Vancouver General Hospital, and St Paul’s Hospital.
MRI wait times reduced:
Under the NDP government in 2017-2020, the MRI wait-times were cut in half, says a BC-NDP release. Half of people who need the MRI diagnostic procedure get their MRI within 47 days.
The number of MRIs performed each year has increased by 45% from 173,678 up to 252,531 last year.
According to the BC NDP, under the BC Liberals the MRI wait-times were the longest in Canada. Northern Health had the lowest MRI rates per capita in the entire country, they say.
About MRI:
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a medical imaging technique used in radiology to form pictures of the anatomy and the physiological processes of the body. MRI scanners use strong magnetic fields, magnetic field gradients, and radio waves to generate images of the organs in the body.
At the BC Cancer Agency MRIs are used for diagnostics for breast cancer, eye tumrours, head and neck cancers and more. MRIs can be used to assess bone density and many other aspects of the body.
Campaign Day 8:
Joining Horgan at the campaign trail announcement outside the Royal Jubilee Hospital today were NDP candidates Rob Fleming (Victoria-Swan Lake), Murray Rankin (Oak Bay-Gordon Head), and Grace Lore (Victoria-Beacon Hill).
