Kincardine hospital redevelopment should include Drive CT scanner, says reader

To the Editor:
Re: "Kincardine hospital redevelopment project continues to advance"

The Kincardine hospital redevelopment project, to take place over the next five to 10 years, is moving forward with the submission for approval from the Ontario Ministry of Health.

That is good news for the  Kincardine hospital and long overdue. What would be really good news, in keeping with these big plans, would be getting a Siemens Drive CT scanner!

The South Bruce Grey health Centre has announced the extensive redevelopment of the hospital but is not following through with the very best equipment in it. The doctors (Kincardine Physicians Group) want the Drive CT so they can expand services and provide the very best health care for their patients.

The hospital board has no issue spending millions of dollars on this redevelopment project but is cutting costs on the equipment to put in it. The board has decided on a more economical scanner that will have to be re-addressed in five years, right in the middle of the redevelopment project! 

The funds are available now for the purchase of the better Drive CT scanner, and the service maintenance of that unit. However, the hospital board refuses to listen to the doctors, the municipality and the community, which have all expressed that looking to the future, they want the better Drive CT scanner that will have at least a 10-year time frame before looking at updating.

As well, Dr. Gary Gurbin, on behalf of the Kincardine Physicians Group and the Family Health Team, announced Sept. 25, 2020, in front of the Kincardine hospital during the CT scanner announcement, that Kincardine would be engaging in a new cardiology imaging clinic, based on the belief that it would be getting the Drive CT scanner. Gurbin said it was the key component to the clinic for cardiac patients.

However, Michael Barrett, president and chief executive officer of the health centre, stood in front of Kincardine council, Feb. 17, and said there was no plan for a comprehensive a cardiac imaging centre at the South Bruce Grey Health Centre or at the 17-bed Kincardine hospital. What a slap in the face for the doctors!

Barrett wants to praise himself and his team for their efforts but has no respect for those who are actually working so hard to give their patients the best health care.

Yes, the more economical Edge Plus CT scanner is the newest technology that Siemens has, but it is not new as that machine was introduced in the United States in 2017 and approved for use there in 2018. There are supposed to be 53 in the U.S. but no one can find any of them and requests asking Siemens where they are located, have gone unanswered.

The more economical unit would be the first in Canada. The health centre signed a five-year purchasing agreement with Siemens in December of 2017, so the purchase of Kincardine’s CT scanner could not be tendered out to other companies which may have even newer technology.

Time for the hospital board to wake up and at least give Kincardine the better CT scanner that we have to purchase from Siemens. We are not asking for their best CT scanner just the better Drive CT scanner. 

Barrett keeps saying the economical unit is the same as the Drive unit but never addresses why there is such a price difference between the two. It all comes down to, you get what you pay for! Spend millions on the hospital redevelopment and scrimp on the important equipment.

Do the right thing for the doctors and the community that you will be looking at with your hands out for funds for your big project.

Order the Drive CT scanner!

Judi Brown,
Kincardine