A company behind a new mobile PET-CT scanner says the slow process to get a national contract for its much-needed service is incredibly frustrating.
Mobile Health Group and Mercy Radiology partnered to develop and build the mobile scanner, which was built in the Netherlands for $7 million.
Mobile Health Group chief executive Mark Eager said the mobile diagnostic PET-CT scanner would be a “game changer” for provincial and rural New Zealand.
It meant people in the New Zealand province could access the scan without the stress and disruption of travel.
Currently, there are six permanent PET-CT scanners, based in Auckland, Hamilton, Wellington and Christchurch.
All were privately operated but took referrals from the public system.
The mobile PET-CT unit would perform traditional CT scans, as well as the more advanced hybrid PET-CT scans (positron emission tomography), with patients receiving a small amount of radiotracer to provide highly sensitive images and allow doctors to study specific areas of the body.
The Mobile Health Group had yet to secure a national contract with Health NZ, and recent reforms in the sector appeared to be slowing the process, Eager said.
“We’ve been building this over the last 12 months, and all the people we’ve talked to at Health NZ in the last 12 months have gone. So we’ve had to start the conversation again which has been difficult.”
Under the new rules, companies would need to go through a central body that appeared to be snowed under, he said.
Regardless, the mobile PET-CT scanners will be in operation from May 14, with a circuit around half of the North Island.
The company would approach different districts to see if it could help with the excess of people waiting for scans.
“We have had referrals from people already, which is great. Because the waiting list is too long.
“Imagine being diagnosed with cancer, and the rules say you have to have a scan within seven days, but depending on where you are in the country, the waiting list at the moment is three to four weeks.”
Navigating the process with Health NZ had been very difficult, Eager said.
“I was so frustrated, when there is a desperate need around and we have a solution, and the bureaucracy is facing the process. We have just caught up with this perfect storm with reforms that are not able to face innovative technology.”
On Monday, the new unit and other parts of the Mobile Health Group will be on display outside Parliament.
