MIA, Tasmania’s Leading Medical Imaging Group is pleased to announce the installation of Tasmania’s first PET/CT service at the Hobart Private Hospital. This major advancement in diagnostic services for cancer patients has been in planning since 2003 and is expected to commence in August 2008.
The ‘State of the Art’ GE Discovery system represents the latest technology in PET/CT scanning and will ensure Tasmanians now have access to services previously requiring travel to the mainland.
PET/CT is used for the management of many diseases and in particular for cancer, epilepsy and heart disease patients. For cancer patients the unit will be used to stage and assess the response to cancer therapy and will have a significant benefit to all cancer patients in Tasmania.
To ensure Tasmanian’s have access to PET/CT, MIA Tasmania has invested considerable time and resources into the training, professional development and accreditation of the Nuclear Medicine Physicians and Professional staff over the past 2 years. Drs Rob Ware, Fiona Murton and Mary-Anne Keady will provide the clinical expertise with Dr Rob Ware being recognised as one of the leading PET physicians in Australia.
Federal Government Medicare Funding for PET/CT patients is currently provided for some clinical conditions with these patients having no ‘out of pocket’ fees. These include Lung cancer and Epilepsy. For all other examinations these will be billed at the Government Schedule Fee until such time as they become available for Medicare funding in the future.
