SEE VIDEO http://www.ottawasun.com/news/ottawa/2011/01/31/17106546.html
Relief is on the way for more than 4,000 people on a non-urgent MRI waiting list at the Ottawa Hospital, as three area hospitals are boosting the operating hours for MRI scans.
“We will be putting additional shifts on, on evenings, nights and weekends,” said Paula Doering, vice-president of clinical programs at the Ottawa Hospital, adding they’ll be able to do about 1,150 MRI scans in the next eight weeks.
That means 2,922 more scans will be performed annually at TOH, Queensway Carleton Hospital and the Montfort hospital. There are eight MRI machines in the city.
The province is putting up $506,500 for the initiative.
“On average in Ottawa, the wait time is 106 days right now. The goal is the shorter the wait time, the better,” said Ottawa Centre MPP Yasir Naqvi.
The average wait time for an MRI in Ontario is 124 days.
While all hospitals in Ottawa are below the provincial average, they’re not even close to the shortest wait time — 22 days — at Windsor Regional Hospital.
kelly.roche@sunmedia.ca
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