MONTREAL -- The Royal Victoria Hospital and Montreal General Hospital are advising patients to look elsewhere for a colonoscopy.
Both hospitals say they have a waiting list that is so long, they’ve been turning patients away for months.
The McGill University Health Centre said it cannot keep up with demand and can only take urgent or acute cases.
“The MUHC Gastro(enterology) Department is one of the busiest in Canada and we're doing the responsible thing, we think, by letting doctors know we can't take any more patients,” said MUHC director of communication Richard Fahey.
As the population ages, the demand for colonoscopies is steadily increasing, causing the hospitals to tell those new patients to look elsewhere.
Dr. Barry Stein, president of the Colorectal Cancer Association of Canada, says this delay is unacceptable.
"When we do have such an intense problem where somebody has to wait an unacceptable amount of time, and this could be years, I think we have to find ways to deal with it," said Stein.
Stein said the backlog is putting a strain on other health care facilities in the city.
“It's a question of funding, it's a question of priorities, and I think that they have to be heard. It's clearly a fault in the system that has to be rectified. It's unacceptable for a patient to wait years and years for a colonoscopy,” he said.
Stein recommends either buying more equipment, hiring more staff, or using the private system.
Health Minister Rejean Hebert said that should not be necessary. Speaking in Quebec City Tuesday, the minister said Montreal hospitals have enough resources to perform all the colonoscopies the city needs, and said that reports of year-long wait times were not accurate.
The MUHC has faced delays in its gastroenterology departments about 20 months ago, in early 2012. At the time, the Royal Victoria attributed part of the delay to the death of a doctor.
Last year several hospitals pitched in to help re-administer several hundred exams that had been botched at the Lakeshore General Hospital.
With growing waiting list, some are advocating rethinking colonoscopies. So-called FIT tests, taken from stool samples, can help determine the need for the procedure.
Hebert is a proponent of the test.
“If the colonoscopy is reserved for those who have a positive FIT test or symptoms, then yes, there are enough resources for colonoscopies in Montreal and in Quebec overall,” he said.
More than 23,000 Canadians, including 2,500 Quebecers, die from colorectal cancer each year, although if the disease is found early, the cure rate is 90 per cent. Those between the ages of 50 and 74 are most at risk.
