Saskatchewan Health Minister Don McMorris said Tuesday the government is looking for a third-party CT scan provider for the Regina area. (CBC)

The Saskatchewan government plans to contract out some CT services in the province to a private health provider to try to reduce wait times for the medical imaging procedure.

Computed tomography (CT) scanners, which merge a series of X-rays into detailed, 3-D pictures taken from different angles, are widely used to help diagnose cancer, strokes and other health problems.

But in some parts of the province, particularly the Regina area, there have been long waits for the procedure.

Health Minister Don McMorris said Tuesday that the province is no longer willing to tolerate the backlog and has issued a call for proposals for a private CT service in the Regina region.

"The CT scans that we're operating in this area are running pretty much at capacity," McMorris said. "There are some issues with space in the Regina-Qu'Appelle Health Region. We feel this is an opportunity to use a third-party deliverer."

McMorris said the province is currently accepting proposals and hopes the private service can be running by early next year.

McMorris said any agreement with a third-party CT service provider will require that the scans cost the same as, or less than, those done in the public system.

The region currently has two CT scanners at Regina General Hospital and one at Pasqua Hospital that are running at maximum capacity doing 75,000 scans a year.

If one new CT scanner is added to the region, it will be able to provide 10,000 more scans, officials with the Regina-Qu'Appelle Health Region said.

The government says if CT wait lists grow shorter, overall wait times for surgery can be reduced.

The Saskatchewan Surgical Initiative, a government advisory group, wants to see a maximum wait for surgery of three months by 2014.

Critic blasts move

NDP health critic Judy Junor called the government's move privatization of the public health care system.

"The private sector will determine the costs, the standards and the order of who get what when for health services," Junor predicted.

She added that the profit goal of private enterprise leads her to question the government's promise to keep costs and services at the same level as a publicly run system.

"The private sector must generate profits," Junor said. "How can Minister McMorris guarantee we can get these services for the same cost or less?"