The Brussels Region has filed an appeal to the Council of State against the distribution of new magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) equipment between the regions. This was stated by the outgoing Brussels Health Minister Alain Maron (Ecolo). He refers to an “unfair” decision taken by Federal Health Minister Frank Vandenbroucke (Voorweit). Brussels has not received a single device. Vandenbroucke had previously justified his decision with numbers.
At the end of May, a royal order was issued for the distribution of 20 additional MRI machines. This concerns 5 machines for Wallonia and 15 machines for Flanders.
“Many institutions and experts believe that Belgium should increase the number of MRI machines to 38. But for reasons of economy, the federal government has set this number at 20,” says Maron.
“Today, waiting times in Brussels are very high and some hospitals are obliged to plan examinations 24 hours a day, even in the middle of the night,” regrets the Minister of the Environment, who criticizes the fact that a political choice has been made to allow a certain area to be unjustly closed.
“Once again we see that certain entities do not accept the role of the Brussels Region in the health care of all residents of Belgium,” complains Maron. Thirty percent of patients treated daily in Brussels hospitals do not live in the Brussels region, he says, “and when it comes to diagnostic tests such as MRI, this figure is even higher.” The minister believes that Minister Vandenbroucke’s decision is “extremely unfair. It will lead to a deterioration in the quality of care for the people of Brussels and all those treated in Brussels hospitals.”
“more appropriate”
Vandenbroucke had previously announced that the distribution was now more proportional. “Until recently, the Brussels region had 1.69 MRI machines per 100,000 inhabitants, while Flanders and Wallonia had to make do with 1.09 and 1.2 machines per 100,000 inhabitants respectively. This ratio has now been equalized to 1.3.”
He also contradicted the argument that Brussels had a larger hinterland outside the region. “An additional hinterland of 30 percent has been taken into account for Brussels,” the minister wrote at the time in a letter to the Brussels hospital association, Gibis.
The audit also showed that the number of tests carried out per device in Brussels was lower than in the other two regions. “That could of course also have an impact on the waiting times you quote,” Gibbes said at the time.
Flanders is known to operate MRI equipment almost around the clock to meet demand.
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