LGH to get diagnostic tools

BY ANDY BLATCHFORD

The Chronicle

The Lakeshore General Hospital will replace aging medical imaging equipment in 2007, following a $1.2-million investment by Quebec announced on Monday.

Half the total will be used to buy a new fluoroscopy system, while the rest will pay to replace digital radiography equipment at the Pointe Claire institution.

“These new machines will be a lot faster, they will shorten the times patients will have to wait. They will make it easier for doctors to do their work,� Jacques Cartier MNA Geoffrey Kelley told reporters at a news conference on Monday. “It’s another step forward in terms of bringing health care in the West Island into the 21st century.�

The devices, which will take the place of equipment aged between 15 to 20 years old, will be compatible with a networking system that will enable health-care establishments to communicate patient information, Kelley said. “We’re setting the table today for . . . a much more efficient and patient-friendly health system here on the West Island,� he said. Kelley expects Lakeshore to be connected to a computerized network soon.

The new tools will also be compatible with the hospital’s recently acquired MRI and CT Scan machines, according to Shadia Armanious, Lakeshore’s chief of diagnostic imaging. She hopes Quebec will implement the computerized patient-archive system early in 2007. “The time of delay for patients will be much less than what’s happening now,� she said of the network, adding that “high-quality� images will be processed quickly and can then be expedited between health centres for consultation.