Wait times for some medical imaging exams stretch beyond 90 days in Canada, and the pandemic has only worsened the situation.

Now, health officials are warning average wait times for certain procedures, such as MRIs, may rise to 133 days by next year, according to an Aug. 12 report from Barrie Today. For reference, the Canadian Wait Time Alliance—which specializes in identifying medically acceptable delays in treatment—recommends waiting no longer than 30 days.

For patients like 62-year-old Judy Duchscher, the backlogs and growing hip pain forced her to pay $1,500 out of pocket for a private scan.

“I knew that I could not wait a year because this is just the beginning,” said Duchscher, a registered nurse, who started her journey toward total hip replacement a year and a half ago. “All I saw were numbers rolling around in my head and I saw this pain for another two and a half years... And I thought I'll just jump off a bridge. There's just no way I will deal with this.”

Gilles Soulez, president of the Canadian Association of Radiologists (CAR), says action is needed to help patients like Duchscher.

In Ontario, lawmakers have dedicated $324 million to help alleviate hospitals' imaging buildup, earmarking $35 million for MRI and CT scanning. CAR, meanwhile, is urging the federal government to put $1.5 billion toward medical imaging equipment over the next five years.

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