MRI scanner officially opens at Whitehorse General Hospital

Officials cut the ribbon to open the first magnetic resonance imaging machine, or MRI, in the North at Whitehorse General Hospital Tuesday.

The first patients will begin going through the scanner next week. It uses magnetic fields and radio waves to provide images doctors can use in medical diagnoses.

The Yukon Hospital Foundation raised $2 million of the $6.8 million dollar cost. Curtis Shaw, the foundation's chair, says Tuesday's ceremony marks years of gathering the funding needed from government and the community.

"The MRI campaign was the largest campaign we ever initiated, we raised two million dollars in just over two years, thousands of Yukoners and dozens of local businesses were involved in making this a reality," Shaw says.

"It's truly impressive to see an event like this and a fund-raising event like this with really unified support right across the community."

Officials say the machine is expected to be used for about 1,800 scans each year and will allow many Yukoners to avoid trips to southern hospitals. As many as 10 per cent of patients, however, will still have to leave the territory for higher risk, specialized scans.