Tuam ruled out as location for extra bone scanner

Close to 1,000 waiting for scan on broken machine

A PROPOSAL by the HSE to install a DEXA machine at the Tuam Primary Care Centre to serve the large population in North Galway has been ruled out.

The news comes as the HSE confirmed that there are nearly 1,000 people waiting to have a bone density scan carried out at Portiuncula Hospital in Ballinasloe where the scanning machine has been broken for two years.

DEXA scans are non-invasive and are used to diagnose bone density and are widely used to diagnose osteoporosis where bones become thinner and are more prone to breakage and fractures.

The scans have been suspended at the Ballinasloe hospital since the machine broke down over two years ago. However, patients continued to be added to the waiting list with less than 100 being referred elsewhere for the service.

The Primary Care Centre in Tuam had been put forward as another location for a DEXA machine shortly after an informal visit to the centre by Health Minister Stephen Donnelly last year…

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