Medical imaging backlogs plaguing Canadian hospitals, radiologists warn
Global News
A recent survey from the Canadian Association of Radiologists indicated that 75 per cent of its members had not reduced their backlog of medical imaging.
Radiologists are warning that Canadian hospitals are in serious need of more equipment and staff to deal with medical imaging backlogs that the country was already facing before the COVID-19 pandemic began.
Dr. Gilles Soulez, president of the Canadian Association of Radiologists, said wait times for medical imaging that is critical for diagnoses was already more than the recommended one month when the pandemic began in March 2020. On average, he said, Canadians were waiting 50 to 82 days for a CT scan and 89 days for an MRI.
Now with the COVID-19 Omicron variant threatening to overwhelm health-care systems again, many more of those appointments are either being delayed or cancelled, said Soulez, who is also a radiologist at the Centre Hospitalier Universite de Montreal and a professor at the University of Montreal.
“Medical imaging is really at the cornerstone of any medical decision,” he said. “If you have any problems relating to cancer, you need to have the CT scan to identify the concern and plan your treatment.’”
Early detection of many diseases is also key to a successful recovery and cure, he said.
“I would say that almost 80 per cent of patients coming into the hospital will need some sort of medical imaging.”
Soulez added that not only is it important for diagnosing, imaging is also used to track a patient’s progress during treatment.
A recent survey from the Canadian Association of Radiologists indicated that 75 per cent of its members had not reduced their backlog of medical imaging. Also, 30 per cent said they believe that wait times will never return to pre-pandemic levels.