New Democrat health critic Adrian Dix is pointing to a study by the Canadian Medical Association that says patients in B.C. wait an average of 84 days - or twice as long as those in Ontario - for medical diagnostic scans like MRI's.
He says some patients need an MRI to determine the extent of damage they may have and whether surgery is needed, and long waits can lead to irreparable damage.
Dix says extending the operating hours of existing MRI machines at major hospitals would help reduce the backlog and get people faster treatment.
He claims the Liberals have has placed a cap on funding for MRI procedures, but the government says it's increased the number of scans by 60 per cent over seven years.
The CMA report entitled "The Economic Costs of Wait Times in Canada" looked at wait times in four areas: MRI's, joint replacement, sight restoration and cardiac bypass surgery.
