By Jeff Labine

Private MRI’s provide options: MS society’s prairie president

Jan 20, 2017 | 4:00 PM

With Saskatchewan’s narrow pool of neurologists specializing in multiple sclerosis, it doesn’t matter if MRI’s are offered privately or publicly as long as patients have access according to one president of the MS Society of Canada.

Erin Kuan, president of the Saskatchewan and Manitoban divisions, said the medical image will show the patient if he or she has scarring of the brain tissue — what definitively confirms the patient has the autoimmune disease.

“Our mission is really to ensure people with MS have the best access to care on their MS journey and it is hard enough to find a neurologist who is specialized in MS let alone worry about the concern about public versus private,” she said. “We really just focused on getting MS specialists into the province.”

At the moment, the province is allowing patients to pay for access to get an MRI, a controversial move that has Saskatchewan butting heads with Ottawa. The federal government this week told the province it has one year to prove that the idea works.

The legislation was introduced in 2015 and expanded to include CT scans.

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Prince Albert currently doesn’t have a facility that offers MRI scans.

Kuan said at the end of the day, the for-profit clinics provide people with options, although she acknowledged that some people might not have the means to take advantage of that option.

“If someone is in a position where they are able to pay for those kinds of services, then that offers them that choice,” she said. “At the same time, if that is a choice for people who have that opportunity to do that, I guess the hope is that it does lift the burden on those who are waiting to go through the regular public health channels.”

The province has an estimated 3,700 patients currently living with MS. Kuan explained around 60 stakeholders, which could be people with MS or even caregivers, are registered members in the P.A. area. The society is currently working on trying to get more accurate numbers on where the largest number of MS cases are outside larger urban areas.

Generally, when someone shows symptoms of MS they are referred to a specialist by their general doctor to a neurologist. Kuan said it has been frustrating because of the lack of MS specialists in the country. She said she remains opeful more will arrive as patients usually face long wait to see one.

“Waiting can be incredibly stressful,” she added.

NDP health critic Danielle Chartier doesn’t like the idea of private MRI’s and said her party has tried to make changes to the legislation but were denied.

“We need to improve the system for everyone, not just those who can afford it,” she said. “Medicare is based on the principle that anyone who needs health care should get it in a timely and appropriate fashion. What providing private MRI’s does, once you get your diagnostics – whether it is a CT scan or an MRI – that allows you to get on the list for treatment whether that is for surgery or anything else. It fosters the ability to jump the queue.”

Jeff Labine is paNOW’s health and education reporter. He can be reached at Jeff.Labine@jpbg.ca or tweet him @labinereporter.