A Windsor clinic that runs PET scans for cancer patients in the region hopes to resume operations by the end of the week.
Precision Diagnostic Imaging announced last week it was suspending operations because its PET scanner had broken down and it didn't have the money to fix it.
The scanner is 11-years-old, and Medical Director Dr Kevin Tracey says they typically only last ten years. He says break-downs have been frequent so the clinic asked the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care just last month if it could get funding for a service contract on the unit. It receives $300,000 a year.
The ministry said no, despite announcing $1.6-million for a similar clinic in Sudbury.
"Out of the blue, on Friday an individual came forward to donate $100,000 towards the repairs but we still need additional funding to operate on a more reliable basis."
The clinic made a second funding request Monday, which includes the cost of the repairs and a more sustainable funding model. That would include money to buy a mobile unit that could be used in other communities. He's optimistic he'll hear back from ministry officials in the next day or two.
In the meantime, repairs on the existing PET scanner are underway and barring anymore break-downs, Tracey hopes to have the clinic up and running again by the end of the week. If that happens, the clinic will contact patients who have been sent as far away as Ottawa for scans.
"We're asking them to keep their appointments [elsewhere] in the next week or two," says Tracey. "Should things change -- we will be contacting them to let them know that we're operational."
The clinic sees about 500 patients a year.
