By Peter Gay
In Ottawa, you can live with multiple sclerosis for up to nine months without knowing — unless you’re willing to pay $725 for a private diagnosis.
MRI, or magnetic resonance imaging, is one of the miracles of modern medicine. It’s a diagnostic tool for everything from cancer to spinal complications.
But Ottawa only has three of these indispensable machines — one at the General and Civic campuses of the Ottawa Hospital and one in the pediatric unit at the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario. As a result, the city lacks the necessary medical technology to meet the needs of an area stretching as far from Pembroke to the Quebec border.
Until the ministry of health realizes there is a serious backlog of patients waiting for MRI scans in Ottawa, a pay-per-use clinic may be the best option for people with no where else to turn.
Two-tier medicare has arrived.
Tom Holland, director of diagnostic imaging at the Ottawa hospital, says the situation in Ottawa is grim, and it can only get worse.
“To meet the demand we have, we need at least one more machine,” says Holland. “And we get more and more requests every day.”
According to Holland, the health ministry has said hospitals should have one machine for every 350,000 residents, but in Ottawa there’s one MRI for every 550,000 adults.
Patients requiring an MRI scan are categorized into different groups depending on their condition and severity. People in emergencies are given top priority and receive scans immediately. Other patients suffering from serious conditions like cancer follow.
Everyone else is lumped into a pool called “elective” — including patients with chronic headaches, orthopedic complications and suspected multiple sclerosis. These unfortunately may have to wait up to nine months for a scan.n.
MRI scans produce an image that is incredibly accurate and is more definitive than any other techniques that have come before it, including the CT scan.
Holland expects that the hospital will scan about 22,000 patients this year, up from 15,000 from last year. But he says the demand could be up as high as 35,000 people.
“Our machines are currently working seven days-a-week for 16 hours a day.”
Ottawa is not meeting the benchmark set out by the ministry, but the government has shown no initiative to help solve the problem.
The provincial government would have to approve any new machine for Ottawa and contribute $800,000 annually to help cover operating costs.
The hospital would be responsible for swallowing the $3-million purchasing and installation charges, as well as a $1.7-million annual cost of running the new MRI unit.
Until that time, patients are left with few options. The next closest publicly funded MRI is in Kingston, which is responsible for an area that spans as far as Belleville. And Kingston also has a five-month waiting list for elective MRI scans.
The other option is private clinics, where patients pay a fee for the MRI scans. Patients travel to Hull and even as far as Boston to get a scan that should be available to them through our public health-care system.
“It is sort of disturbing that access is determined by the patient’s ability to pay,” says Holland. “We are not used to that in Canada.”
Holland admits, however, that the private clinics in Quebec and the United States are helping.
“We are way under-serviced with our numbers and these clinics help free up spaces and allow others access,” said Holland.
But Denise McKenna says health care in Canada shouldn’t work that way.
McKenna was diagnosed with brain cancer in mid-May 2000. After her oncologist requested an MRI scan in September, she had to wait three months before she could get it.
“The frustration is really heavy, really big,” says McKenna.
McKenna says she only got the scan because she chased down people from the radiology department and pestered them for the scan.
McKenna eventually got her scan. But she says if she had to wait any longer she would have gone to the private clinic without hesitation.
The Ottawa Valley MRI clinic in Hull opened in December for private MRI appointments. For $725 a patient can be seen within two days and have MRI results back as early as 48 hours.
“We provide people with a choice,” says Joanne Farmer, vice-president at the clinic.
She says that business has been steady since its opening.
“Since there is such a backlog in patients, each day there are lots of inquiries about our services,” says Farmer.
With more than 7,000 people waiting for elective MRI scans in Ottawa, crossing the river to Hull doesn’t sound like that bad of an option, at least for those who can afford it.
Dr. Joy Weisbloom, a general physician and president of the Academy of Medicine, agrees.
“It’s frustrating for both physicians and patients to have these long waits,” said Weisbloom. “If patients want an MRI and they can pay for it, then they should be allowed.”
But can you put a price tag on improved treatment and standard of living, or even just a piece of mind? Until Ontario’s ministry of health realizes the situation in Ottawa, that price is $725 and a short drive across the river.