SKG spends on scanners

Sonic Healthcare subsidiary SKG Radiology has highlighted the growing cost of modern medical technology with its latest capital spending plans.

The Perth-based company is in the midst of installing a range of new scanners at three of the state’s major private hospitals – St John of God Subiaco, St John of God Murdoch, and Hollywood Private Hospital.

SKG is buying three 64-slice computerised tomography (CT) scanners, with each unit costing about $1.3 million.

This followed the installation last month of a state-of-the-art magnetic resonance imaging scanner at Hollywood, at a cost of about $2.5 million.

In addition, the company has a positron emission tomography scanner at the Subiaco hospital, installed at a cost of more than $3.5 million.

SKG chairman and chief executive Dr Paul Sprague said the rising cost of medical technology was a real issue.

“People do want the latest and best equipment,” he said.

“It’s a big challenge, not just for our business but for the country as a whole.”

The public health system faces the same pressures. The state’s first 64-slice CT scanner was installed at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital last year and Health Minister Jim McGinty announced this month that Royal Perth Hospital would buy the same type of machine for its emergency department.

Dr Sprague emphasised that SKG advocates the use of scanners only by people with relevant conditions or symptoms diagnosed by their doctor.

There is a trend internationally for individuals to be screened as a precautionary measure, but Dr Sprague said this was not yet proven to be medically appropriate.

“We don’t do it just to check out someone’s body,” he told WA Business News.

Despite investing in new technology, SKG was caught up last week in a political fight over medical services, amid claims that its PET scanner was ‘old’ and ‘antiquated’.

Dr Sprague rejected the claims, saying that similar scanners are being used all over the world and are still being installed in other states.

He said the real problem in WA was that only one PET scanner, at Sir Charles Gairdner, had a licence to provide Medicare-subsidised services.

“If the Federal Government granted WA an additional licence, we would certainly be in a position to take some of the pressure off the public healthcare system here in WA,” Dr Sprague said.

The installation of the new MRI scanner at Hollywood was triggered by SKG being awarded a Medicare licence. SKG now has three licensed MRI scanners in Perth.

Dr Sprague said the new CT scanners would deliver a three-fold advance in diagnostic care, providing more anatomical detail and far superior image clarity than scanners used in Perth a year ago.

The machines can assist in the diagnosis of a range of conditions, including cancers, heart disease, sports injuries and trauma.

The superior information would translate to direct medical benefits for patients.

Dr Sprague said the new scanners would also help to reduce x-ray exposure for patients.

ASX-listed Sonic Healthcare, chaired by Perth investor Barry Patterson, acquired SKG Radiology in 2001.

Sonic’s other WA businesses include Clinipath Pathology, which was acquired for $27 million.