Dr Chris Moyes

As a previous senior specialist at Whakatāne Hospital for over 40 years, I was horrified and disgusted to read the account from Victor Luca documenting the loss of the proposed MRI scanner for Whakatāne Hospital.

No modern general hospital should be without an on-site MRI as it is the best scanner for a many clinical conditions and needs to be available for the very sick as well as outpatients.

To have to go to Tauranga with all the costs of ambulances and nurse attendants is an incredibly wasteful use of funds, and many senior specialists will not want to come to a hospital lacking this routine tool.

We have been seeking to get an MRI for at least seven years, and I understood that local businesses were prepared to fund the initial purchase.

I had been in occasional contact with East Bay Health over the past three years, who had kept reassuring me the machine would be installed.

Now we find it has been taken elsewhere.

This is disgraceful and needs some strong action from our local community. I would hope our mayor and local MPs would make this a priority and to put serious pressure on the Health Ministry, and if it needs a local fund-raising effort, I am sure we can achieve that.

■ Cath Cronin, executive regional director Te Manawa Taki | Midland region responds:

Health New Zealand recognises how important timely access to MRI scanning is for patients, whānau, and clinicians, and we share the community’s expectation that services should be as close to home as possible.

The previously proposed MRI for Whakatāne was based on a private provider arrangement.

Unfortunately, we were unable to reach a final agreement with the provider who owned the MRI machine, largely due to challenges identified with the suitability of the proposed site, including seismic considerations.

While this is disappointing, it does not change our commitment to improving access to diagnostic services for the Eastern Bay community.

We continue to support patient access to MRI services, including at Tauranga Hospital, with clinical prioritisation in place to ensure those with the greatest need are seen as quickly as possible.

We are actively exploring a renewed proposal for an MRI service at Whakatāne Hospital that is clinically safe, sustainable, and will deliver long-term value for the community.

We will continue to work closely with clinicians, iwi, local leaders, and the community as we progress this work, and we remain committed to finding a viable path forward.