Sask. adds $40M to cut wait times

Another $40 million will be spent this year to cut surgical wait times, the Saskatchewan government says.

The money will allow health regions to complete an additional 5,550 surgeries next year (1,750 in the Saskatoon health region, 1,700 in the Regina Qu'Appelle health region and 2,100 in other regions), the province said.

Some of the money will be spent on a fourth magnetic resonance imaging scanner for Saskatoon.

The government says it wants to reduce wait times to a year or less by the end of the 2011-2012 fiscal year, which ends on March 31.

According to the provincial data, about 6 per cent of patients were waiting more than 12 months last year.

As of Nov. 30, 2010, there were 26,880 patients waiting for surgery.