A shortage of ultrasound technicians in B.C.'s Interior is causing wait lists as long as nine months. (CBC)

A shortage of ultrasound technicians in the B.C. Interior is causing long line-ups and cancelled procedures.

More than one-third of the ultrasound positions in the Southern Interior are vacant. Most Interior hospitals have long ultrasound waiting lists, and some are letting machines sit idle because there is no one to operate them.

"[At] Interior Health, we have 11 to 14 vacancies at any given time," said Zeno Cescon, a director of imaging for Interior Health.

"Our current hot spots are Cranbrook, Trail, Penticton and Kamloops. We also have issues at the community hospitals and other sites as well."

Those vacancies, Cescon said, are causing long wait lists for ultrasounds.

"Kamloops has a nine-month wait list down from twelve months."

Cescon said the wait is so long, Interior Health is turning to private ultrasound operators for help.

BCIT is the only school in the province where technicians are trained. The school's dean of health sciences Bill Dow said the school graduates up to 24 students a year.

"Give us a few years of that and I think we'll have fewer challenges than we have now," he said. "It won't be completely eliminated, but much less challenging then we have now."

Until more technicians enter the workforce, Interior patients waiting for an ultrasound are asked to be patient.