Vancouver-area health authority buys two private MRI to ease wait times

Fraser Health is taking over ownership of privately-run MRI clinics in Abbotsford and Surrey, B.C., on Oct. 1. Both clinics will start providing publicly-funded exams within a month and all workers will become Fraser Health employees. B.C.'s health minister says the move will ease wait lists for MRIs as each clinic can provide 5,000 scans annually. The two clinics will begin operating publicly within a month and will do 2,000 exams this year alone. The purchases are part of the province’s goal of 225,000 MRIs in 2018-19, up from 188,000 in 2017-18.