P.E.I.'s first private MRI clinic opens in Summerside

Prince Edward Island's first private magnetic resonance imaging clinic opened in Summerside Thursday, and its owners say it will have a big impact on the province by cutting down the wait time for Islanders who need a scan.

"Patients are now having to leave Prince Edward Island, go to Moncton to have their MRI scans," said Dr. Guy Boswall. "It'll be wonderful for them to come to Summerside and have them on-Island."

Boswall said the MRI scanner at Summerside Diagnostic Imaging Centre is a bit different than the one at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital.

"Ours provides very quick scans, it has a larger bore in the tunnel, which is excellent for people who may be a little claustrophobic, or patients who are a little larger."

Anyone with a referral from a health care provider can go to the new clinic, but they will have to pay out of pocket. Clinic owners estimate costs to be similar to private MRIs in Moncton.

Currently, the wait time for a non-urgent MRI on P.E.I. is more than 14 months, but to help clear the backlog, Health P.E.I. pays for people to go to a private clinic in Moncton, including covering their travel costs. Since mid-February, more than 1,500 people have gone there. The program is costing the province about $3.8 million.

Boswell said that shows P.E.I. needs more capacity for MRIs.

"We should not have to leave Prince Edward Island to get an MRI scan. It's a very common procedure," he said.

Boswell said he hopes the Summerside MRI clinic will eventually work like the private cataract clinic that opened last year in Charlottetown, which he also co-owns. Health P.E.I. covers those surgery costs for patients.

But Health P.E.I. doesn't currently have an agreement with this clinic. In a statement to CBC News, the health authority said "Any future needs of MRI volumes will be assessed on an ongoing basis to ensure we are improving wait times and access overall.

"Patients presenting with emergency needs receive MRI scans right away. Patients with urgent needs receive scans within two-and-a-half weeks, on average. Wait times for semi-urgent MRI scans are 50 per cent shorter than last year, even in the face of rising demand."

The health authority noted that it has approval from the province to issue a request for information for local organizations to apply to provide services.

"[Health P.E.I.] will use information from this process to support government decision making about any potential future agreements with qualified vendors."

Speaking at the grand opening Thursday, Summerside mayor Dan Kutcher thanked the owners of the private clinic for investing in the city, and into the Island's health infrastructure.