Patients who had been waiting for a special X-ray procedure at Whitehorse General Hospital will have to wait another month.
One of the hospital’s two X-ray machines broke down earlier in December, said hospital spokesperson Val Pike.
This happened to be the one machine that was able to perform a procedure called a fluoroscopy.
Flouroscopies are conducted by inserting a special liquid into the body - through barium enemas, meals and swallows - so that the digestive track will show up in an X-ray.
This helps doctors diagnose digestive and gastrointestinal ailments.
A radiologist comes from Outside once a month to perform this procedure and usually spends two days attending to patients, said Pike.
Unfortunately, the machine broke down during the two days that this specialist was scheduled to visit.
The machine broke down on Friday, December 11.
A repair person was in town the next day, checking out what was wrong and ordering new parts.
But by the time the parts arrived and the machine was up and running again, the hospital had missed its two-day window with the radiologist.
Patients who missed their appointments will be rebooked for the procedure in January, said Pike.
She was unsure whether the specialist will extend his visit in January to see all of December’s patients.
As of Thursday, both X-ray machines were up and running without a problem.
Contact Chris Oke at
chriso@yukon-news.com