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New MRI at Dartmouth General Hospital expected to scan 400 patients a month

A ribbon-cutting ceremony was held Monday at the Dartmouth General Hospital to thank those who donated $2 million to help the facility get its first MRI, bringing the number of the machines in the province to 11.

There are currently 15,000 Nova Scotians on the MRI waitlist

Jean Laroche · CBC News ·
A MRI machine is shown.
The new MRI is one of four being installed in the Halifax region this year, according to Premier Tim Houston. (Paul Poirier/CBC)

The first patients won't get to use it for another three weeks, but the Dartmouth General Hospital's first MRI machine was officially unveiled Monday.

Sharon Hartling, the diagnostic imaging manager at the Dartmouth General said the plan was to operate the machine up to 16 hours a day, seven days a week.

"Expecting to scan 400 patients a month, 5,000 patients a year, and that's a conservative estimate," said Hartling.

"Those numbers are based on our current MRI scanners in the central zone, and this new scanner will be faster, so we're hoping to exceed those targets."

A woman in a taupe top speaks to the camera.
Sharon Hartling is the diagnostic imaging manager at the Dartmouth General Hospital. (Paul Poirier/CBC)

Premier Tim Houston used oversized scissors to cut a blue ribbon stretched across the imaging equipment, whose 12,000-kilogram magnet was delivered just before Christmas and lowered from the roof into a specially reinforced and isolated section of the hospital.

Houston stood shoulder to shoulder with some of the people who donated $2 million to pay for the MRI through the Dartmouth General Hospital Foundation.

A group of people, one of whom has a giant pair of scissors, stands behind a blue ribbon strung in front of an MRI machine
Premier Tim Houston was on hand for the official unveiling Monday. (Paul Poirier/CBC)

The province's share, $11.9 million, covered the cost of installing the machine, as well as staff salaries for the technicians who will operate it.

Houston said it is one of four new MRIs being installed in the Halifax region this year. Two will replace aging equipment at the Halifax Infirmary.

The fourth, a mobile MRI, being purchased by the QEII Foundation, will be located at the Bayers Lake Community Outpatient Centre by the end of July. 

Dr. Graham Joy, the head of radiology at the Dartmouth General Hospital, said having its own MRI will eliminate the need for inpatients to be transported to Halifax to undergo a scan, potentially speeding up diagnoses and ulimately saving money.

A man in a shirt with blue and white vertical pinstripes speaks to the camera.
Dr. Graham Joy, the head of radiology at the Dartmouth General Hospital. (Paul Poirier/CBC)

"EHS [Emergency Health Services] has to be contacted for a transfer, which is a very strained service, so that can lead to some time delays just because of their difficulty in finding time for everything that they're demanded to do," said Joy.

"And costs accrue there as well because it's not an inexpensive undertaking to pay for an ambulance back and forth."

Technicians are being trained to use the new unit. The hospital has started booking appointments for the MRI, starting June 17.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Jean Laroche

Reporter

Jean Laroche has been a CBC reporter since 1987. He's been covering Nova Scotia politics since 1995 and has been at Province House longer than any sitting member.

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