Despite a major increase in the supply of high-tech imaging equipment, Canadians could still face long waits for medical scans.

The Canadian Institute for Health Information in Ottawa recently released a study showing the number of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and computed tomography (CT) scanners has increased by 75 per cent over the last decade. But the report also showed Canada ranked 13th among 21 industrialized countries in the number of these scanners per million people.

"A 75 per cent increase over a decade may sound like a lot, but considering we were so far behind in the beginning, it really doesn't amount to a lot," says Dr. Mark Prieditis, executive vice-president of the Ontario Association of Radiologists.

Another area of concern highlighted in the report was that Canada's supply of medical imaging professionals has not grown to match the increased supply of new imaging equipment.

Normand Laberge, chief executive officer of the Canadian Association of Radiologists, says increases in efficiency have enabled imaging departments to "not hit the wall yet." But he pointed out the average radiologist performs 17,000 exams a year in Canada, which is 3,000 or 4,000 more than the standard rate.

Laberge says increasing the number of scanners without training more operators is "like shooting ourselves in the foot." He says governments need to invest in human resources as well as new machines, and ensure that guidelines for proper use of the machines are followed.

Geoff Ballinger, health expenditure manager for the Canadian Institute for Health Information, says it's difficult to determine the impact of additional imaging machines on wait times.

"It's not clear to us whether we need more machines or if we need to manage the machines we have differently," he says. "What seems to be happening is that while you get more and more of these high-tech machines, doctors are prescribing them more and more, rather than conventional means of diagnosing illness. So obviously that's going to put pressure on the machines, and the waiting lists may not go down as quickly as we'd like, in spite of the fact that we've installed more equipment."