OPSEU: Who will run new MRI, CT machines?

The Ontario Public Service Employees Union is asking just who will staff the five new Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) machines and five new Computerized Tomography (CT) scanners the Eves government announced Friday.

“The problem is not lack of machines in the public system - the real problem is there is not enough staff to operate those machines around the clock,” said OPSEU President Leah Casselman. “The private operators will simply have to poach the trained professionals from the public system,” she said.

OPSEU, representing CT and MRI technologists at many public hospitals, says private delivery of these services could mean “worried well” patients could be able to jump the queue and step in front of those in true need of diagnosis.

Severe shortages of specialized technologists are already acute in Ontario and across Canada, with many professionals eligible for retirement in the next 12 years, and virtually no training or recruitment programs in place. Private clinics would compete with our public hospitals for the remaining trained technologists.

OPSEU held a Day of Action Feb. 13 to protest the shortages, and poor wages and working conditions in the professions.

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David Cox 416-443-8888 x314

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