Health minister says province looking to add more MRI machines, working to fast-track training
The annual median wait for an MRI in Manitoba is at its highest level since at least 2019, nearly two years after the provincial NDP were elected on a promise to fix the health-care system.
Provincial data suggests annual median MRI waits have gone up to 26 weeks so far in 2025 from 20 weeks in 2023.
Nikita Lindenberg is among an average 28,000 Manitoban patients a year waiting for an MRI, and among the half who wait longer than six months for the test.
Lindenberg was outside around Christmastime when her dog came running around a corner and collided with her leg. The mother of two fell and twisted her knee.
The excruciating pain and swelling landed her in the Brandon emergency room a few days later. An X-ray came back negative for breaks and fractures, Lindenberg said.
She was told they would not order an MRI due to the wait of about three to four months, and that her injury would likely resolve itself by the time she got the test, she said.
Lindenberg was told the same thing at subsequent hospital visits, where staff performed two more X-rays that didn't show anything new, she said.
Months later, her nearly daily pain and swelling compelled her to push for an MRI.
Last month, she received a letter from Shared Health, the organization in charge of co-ordinating health care in Manitoba, with a date for the test: March 2026.
Lindenberg recalled thinking how disappointed she was, "then there was a moment of, 'This is ridiculous.' My injury is going to be over a year old before I finally get answers," she told CBC News in August.
"My biggest concern is that if it's not looked at properly that this could end up causing issues long-term."
The Canadian Association of Medical Radiation Technologists says a few factors could be driving the surging MRI waits, including aging equipment that has led to breakdowns lasting weeks, an aging population, high burnout among staff and the way technologists are trained in Manitoba.
"We feel as MRTs [medical radiation technologists], the public has the perception that we're not working hard, and we really are. We really want to have patients get the scans that they need in a really timely fashion," said Dayna McTaggart, the association's provincial manager.
"Giving us the resources we need to do that is essential."
Manitoba currently has 115 certified MRI technologists, not all of whom may be practising, McTaggart said.
In 2023, the number dipped to 106 from 120 the year before.
McTaggart says it has fluctuated based on retirements and those who've left the profession due to burnout and workplace culture.
Red River College Polytech offers the only MRI technologist program in Manitoba, and Saskatchewan doesn't have one.
Red River's 8½-month-long program requires students to have a prior degree or diploma in medical radiologic technology, nuclear medicine, radiation therapy or ultrasound.
McTaggart says that makes it challenging for potential students.
"I have heard of MRTs who have attempted to do a work-study balance in the past and haven't been successful to do that, so typically it involves you resigning from your position or taking a leave to immerse yourself full time and study," McTaggart said.
"It's also leading some MRTs in Manitoba to investigate distance education options elsewhere."
Red River's MRI and spectroscopy program has 10 seats, and in the last few years, about five students have graduated annually who've then also successfully passed their licensing exams, Tammy Harper, the school's associate dean of health and community services, told CBC last week.
The program is currently under review, with hopes that work will be completed this year.
Harper says "nothing is off the table" as the institution considers labour market needs and weighs what other schools are doing.
Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara said the province continues to work with post-secondary institutions, including Red River, to fast-track pathways for training and incentivize potential students.
"We're finding ways to get more folks choosing this as a career path and making sure they have a job offer in their hands long before they graduate."
Manitoba has 14 MRI machines, along with a mobile MRI service that began seeing patients in June.
Asagwara says the province is looking to add more equipment, "whether it's Portage Place or other locations."
"We've added the mobile MRI in the north. That's a huge addition, and it redirects hundreds of people away from MRIs in Winnipeg," Asagwara said in a phone interview.
"But there's more work to be done. We need to retain and we need to train more technologists."
CBC asked Shared Health about the equipment breakdowns and for comment on the rising MRI waits but did not hear back before publication.
The provincial health organization began offering return of service agreements for people enrolling in Red River's MRI program in 2024 and 2025, McTaggart said.
As of March, Shared Health has also required primary care providers to complete a checklist when requesting knee MRIs to make sure the cases are suitable for the test.
As for Lindenberg, she's continuing physiotherapy, although they've told her it'll be hard to provide the best treatment without an MRI.
"I would like to know what I've done wrong to my body and make a plan going forward, because right now, there is no plan."