The health enigma !

Wollongong has gained a very valuable - and very rare - diagnostic medical tool with the arrival of PRP Diagnostic Imaging's new CT Scanner.

This is one of only six such units in Australia - and just a hundred in the entire world - and it cost $ 3.5 million. It is so advanced that it provides 320 slices of the organ being examined in just one third of a second. Older machines are limited to 64 slices - over a much longer period - and can not achieve as high a definition.

PRP is a private firm and obviously they hope to make a profit from providing an advanced medical facility. We are probably about to see a re-run of the MRI saga of several years ago when hospital patients were being transferred to private facilities because our government health system could not afford a public machine.

Then came the nonsense of a machine in place in the hospital, but without a license that would allow it to be used on the general public. Use was confined to those granted a bed in the hospital - and all others had to pay to use the machine in private facilities.

PRP should be applauded for taking the commercial risk of introducing this service to Wollongong. This machine will only have a short unique life before advances in medical science make it obsolete and hence until that happens it will be the premier imaging form serving the entire south coast and it's hinterland.

In a perfect world the country's national health service would be at the forefront of new medical equipment and it's provision, but in the real world there is a gap of almost light years between development and provision of state of the art equipment.

So - once more we find the pinnacle of diagnostic health available for a fee by those willing to take a financial risk to provide a service. Many will grumble and begrudge that it is not free under Medicare.

They should keep in mind that it is only the perceived benefits and saving of human life stemming from such private machines that generates the pressure for the government to provide similar equipment.

Without that - most would be unaware that such equipment exists !