N.B. gov't turns down $1M offer from Saint John hospital

Could you imagine receiving a million dollar offer, and then turning it down?

That's the situation in Saint John where the Regional Hospital has laid $1-million on the table so the province can purchase a top-of-the-line MRI machine.

But the New Brunswick government has said "no thanks" to the offer, even though it is purchasing new MRI machines for many hospitals around the province.

The 1.5T MRI machines purchased by the government may not be the most sophisticated systems on the market, but the superior 3T MRI cost an extra $1-million each, so the Saint John Regional Hospital Foundation offered to pay for the upgrade.

"A 3T MRI is far superior to the 1.5Ts that are being purchased and so we offered $1-million," says foundation spokesman Tim Cameron. "This isn't government providing a better machine. This is donors providing a better machine. This is philanthropy and I can't see why they don't pick up the cash."

Physicians in the diagnostic imaging department say they can't believe the province has turned down the million-dollar offer.

"Speaking to my colleagues around the country, it's really an embarrassment," says Dr. John Whelan. "We have an opportunity to step forward, to provide excellence for our patients in New Brunswick, and this is almost a step backwards."

Premier David Alward says he has not ruled out purchasing the more sophisticated 3T MRI for the Saint John Regional Hospital at some point in the future.

But for now the government says the priority is to increase operating room time at the hospital.

However, physicians say the 3T MRI would be better for the complicated surgeries and treatments provided at the hospital, and at no extra cost.

"So it would cost the government and the taxpayers no more money," says Whelan. "To operate the machine it's pretty well even. Operational costs would be no different between the 3T and the 1.5T."

The Saint John Regional Hospital Foundation says the money is still on the table if the provincial government has a change of heart.

With files from CTV Atlantic's Mike Cameron