Pontiac CT scanner delivery now expected in February 2024

Pontiac CT scanner delivery now expected in February 2024

After a lengthy acquisition process, the new CT scanner for the Pontiac Hospital is scheduled to be delivered in February 2024.

Nicole Boucher-Larivière, CISSSO’s director of local services in Pontiac, told CHIP 101.9 today (November 8) that they had received confirmation that the new scanner would be delivered in mid-February next year.

“We are evaluating the needs for renovation and power supply,” she wrote in an email. “Removing the old scan will take several days as it needs to be [dismantled] and the new one put together and calibrated.”

She added that they didn’t have a firm date for when the machine will be functional.

The current machine was put into service in 2010, and was scheduled to be replaced in 2021. Zied Ouechteti, CISSSO’s deputy director of diagnostic services, told CHIP 101.9 earlier this year that  the contract for the replacement had been awarded starting March 1, 2023. At the time, he estimated the machine would cost around $1 million and said they hoped to have it in place by the end of the year.

In the last few years of its lifespan, Shawville’s machine has been inoperable, either because of equipment failures or scheduled maintenance dozens of times. According to data from CISSSO, between January 2020 and March 2023, the machine experienced 24 equipment failures, and had scheduled maintenance 41 times. CISSSO spokesperson Camille Brochu-Lafrance said that the equipment failures last about 24 hours on average and scheduled maintenance averages about 6 hours.