(Raquel Fletcher/ Global News) — Quebec’s health minister came under fire for the third day in a row during question period on Thursday, this time over a report in the French-language newspaper La Presse, which found that MRI and CT scan machines are widely underused in hospitals, despite long waiting lists.
The La Presse report looked at the 15 hospitals in the province with the longest wait times for MRI and CT scans and found that a majority of the machines were operating far below capacity.
The machines are supposed to run for 16 hours a day, all days of the week, but at the CHUM, for example, the six machines there are operating on average only eight hours a day. More than 7,000 patients are currently on the waitlist.
The MUHC responded in a statement: “The MUHC has some CTs and MRIs that are idle and the MSSS is aware of this. We are in discussions with them and additional funding is in the process of being allocated so we can enhance patient’s access to imaging services. (…)