Tamil community presents The Scarborough Hospital with $150,000 towards MRI project
Members of the Toronto Tamil Community and local dignitaries were on hand for the presentation of a cheque to The Scarborough Hospital-Birchmount campus for the MRI Project at a ceremony this week at the hospital.
Scarborough Mirror
andrew palamarchukaplamarchuk@insidetoronto.com
Scarborough’s Tamil community has made good on a pledge to raise $150,000 towards an MRI machine at The Scarborough Hospital’s Birchmount site.
The multi-million-dollar diagnostic imaging machine was installed in October 2011, cutting MRI wait times in half.
This week, members of the Tamil community gathered at the hospital to officially hand over a cheque for $150,740. In addition, a local Tamil restaurant presented a cheque for $12,000.
“This is a wonderful example of community spirit and generosity,” said health minister Dr. Eric Hoskins, who took part in the ceremony. “The Tamil community is a wonderful example among many communities that understand what it means to give and be involved and be committed.”
The Birchmount campus was the last hospital in the GTA to get an MRI.
Hoskins said the machine has enabled the hospital to use its resources more efficiently. “No longer does a patient, accompanied by a nurse, need to be transferred from here, Birchmount, to the General campus (for an MRI), something that was happening more than 200 times each year.”
The Tamil community had been working with the hospital foundation on the MRI project for the past couple of years.
“This is our community. This is where we live, this is where our children are going to be living, so I think we need to keep the standard of the hospital to today’s technology,” said community leader Kula Sellathurai. “And if we don’t have the right equipment, you won’t be able to diagnose our sickness or disease.”
The province now has 102 MRIs, which help diagnose strokes, tumours, spinal cord injuries, structural problems in the heart and blockages in blood vessels.
The hospital foundation’s MRI campaign raised a total of about $5 million. “MRI is a key diagnostic tool today,” said foundation president and CEO Michael Mazza.
