Health P.E.I. agrees to pay for Moncton MRIs in semi-urgent cases as wait times soar

Some Prince Edward Islanders will get funding to travel out of province for an MRI scan at a private clinic in New Brunswick as Health P.E.I. tries to shorten wait times that have spiralled to the highest levels on record.

The agency announced Friday that it will cover the cost for Islanders considered "semi-urgent cases" to get those scans, with the hope that the clinic will perform 2,600 scans in its first year and help cut the P.E.I. waiting list. 

"Our semi-urgent MRI scans are woefully behind national standards," said Health P.E.I. CEO Melanie Fraser.

"This should make an incredible difference for those who are waiting, especially those who are waiting for semi-urgent MRIs. Our work is going to cover the full suite of diagnostic imaging, including X-ray, CT, ultrasound and MRI."

Health P.E.I.'s only MRI machine is based at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Charlottetown, and it's in high demand. Wait times are as high as two years for some patients, according to new data from Health P.E.I. 

Fraser says that with the majority of semi-urgent patients being sent to Moncton, P.E.I. should be back to normal wait times within a year. 

She said Health P.E.I. is also exploring the use of other private companies and clinics to help reduce the backlog for medical tests. It plans to put out an open call to see what might be available, including the prospect of a new private clinic opening on the Island. 

"We'll take advantage of any capacity that we can while at the same time we're working to optimize everything at the QEH," said Fraser. 

AVC willing to help

Mwanehile, officials at the Atlantic Veterinary College in Charlottetown have reached out to Health P.E.I. to say they're open to sharing their MRI machine for human patients.  

The Charlottetown-based vet college has had its own MRI machine since May 2023, using it to help diagnose medical issues in everything from turtles and cats to horses and cows. 

"We would be very open to making this unit accessible to the human patients," said Dr. Dominique Griffon, the dean of the Atlantic Veterinary College. 

"At the moment, it's not utilized to its full potential. We see about 110 cases in one year, so there is room for adding more MRIs."

The unit at the AVC could theoretically help with the backlog — but there are hurdles.

Griffon said the AVC needs to build a reception area for human patients, so that they don't have to use the same entrance as dogs or horses. 

And from a legal standpoint, veterinarians aren't qualified to perform MRIs on humans, so the province would have to provide personnel. 

On the human side, it requires a specific training that our current technicians do not have.— Dominique Griffon

"Currently on the veterinary side, a regular registered veterinary technologist can perform an MRI with additional training," said Griffon.

"However, on the human side, it requires a specific training that our current technicians do not have."

As well as finding staff to perform the MRIs, the AVC and Health P.E.I. would have to agree on who covers the costs to operate and maintain the machine, which can be high. 

The college is in the process of fundraising for a training hospital expansion that would include a new patient reception area, but it hasn't reached the $6 million goal yet.  

The Atlantic Veterinary College's machine has never done an MRI on a human, but Griffon said that won't be an issue. It's certainly big enough, and has the same definition of images needed in human medicine.

"There would be a deep clean of the room and the unit when we change species," she noted. "We have to allow for a time in between patients to clean the room and table."