Prime Minister Robert Abela, accompanied by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Health Chris Fearne and Parliamentary Secretary for European Funds Stefan Zrinzo Azzopardi, inaugurated a new MRI machine at Mater Dei Hospital with an investment of ‘€ 3.5 million.
Prime Minister Abela said the government will continue to invest in these initiatives to ensure that the economic wealth that is created addresses those most in need, including patients and vulnerable people. This investment will continue to help reduce the expectation of those patients who will need to undergo this medical examination.
In fact, about 700 MRI examinations are performed at Mater Dei Hospital every week, with 100 of them being performed at other hospitals. With this new machine, part of which has been funded by European funds, 100 more MRI examinations will be performed in a week.
Deputy Prime Minister Chris Fearne said the machine would be used among others for heart MRIs, where in the last six years demand has increased from 20 to 300 per year.
“For many years, to do an MRI, you had to wait a year and a half with the consequence that the patient’s condition could deteriorate. Today, an MRI test is done in much less time. This is thanks to the dedication of the staff in this department and to the investment that has been made, so that today a number of tests and medical interventions are carried out that we did not even dream of before “, said Dr Fearne.
Parliamentary Secretary Stefan Zrinzo Azzopardi said that the funding of the MRI device was € 3.5 million co-financed with European funds and forms part of a much larger project of € 38 million. Dr Zrinzo Azzopardi explained that this includes not only MRI but other specialized equipment to continue investing more in research and innovation.
At the inauguration it was explained that the new machine is the latest technology on the market and for the first time a collaboration will take place between Mater Dei Hospital and the University of Malta so that the local medical community can do the desired research.
The Rector of the University, Professor Alfred Vella, said that such equipment will be useful for various fields and beneficial for the students including those who are studying engineering and medicine among others.
“The hospital is making use of this investment while the University will benefit from the research,” said Prof. Vella.
