Eagle Ridge Hospital’s first MRI machine is on the ballot, Eby says

The province has plans to buy eight MRI machines including one earmarked for Eagle Ridge Hospital, but not until after the election.

“If we’re successful in the election, we’ll be ordering the machine right away,” B.C. Premier David Eby said Tuesday during a press conference at Town Centre Park in Coquitlam.

To keep those Magnetic Resonance Imaging machines humming, the province would focus a portion of their American recruitment campaign on MRI technicians, Eby added.

The premier credited Port Moody-Coquitlam MP Zoe Royer for working hard to deliver the room that will house the machine.

While the province completed a record number of surgeries in 2025, wait times remain unacceptable, Eby said.

Besides the MRIs and 10 CT scanners, the province is also instituting centralized regional waitlists. The change is meant to allow British Columbians to either book their surgery at a preferred hospital or to choose the first hospital available.

Discussing the issue in July, Fraser Health public affairs senior consultant Zahra Alani stated that plans were underway for a new MRI at Eagle Ridge Hospital.

“We are working closely with the Ministry of Health to ensure we are ready to move forward as soon as funding and approvals are in place,” Alani stated.

The lack of an MRI machine at Eagle Ridge Hospital has meant patients being sent off-site, sometimes escorted by a nurse, wrote Port Moody Coun. Samantha Agtarap in a letter to the Dispatch.

“In a time where we are already experiencing staff shortages, this seems like a ridiculous situation – and an unnecessary financial and human burden,” wrote Port Moody Coun. Samantha Agtarap in a letter to the Dispatch.

Across Fraser Health, adults waiting for ACL surgery tend to wait between six weeks and five months. Fifty percent of surgeries are conducted within 6.1 weeks and more than 90 percent of surgeries are completed within 20.9 weeks. The wait is slightly shorter for colostomy, with wait times between 5.1 and 14.9 weeks. However, for a procedure like varicose veins ligation, wait times range from 30.4 to 70.6 weeks in Fraser Health.