The MHA for Corner Brook says there will definitely be a PET scanner for the new Corner Brook hospital but the minister of health is not so sure.

MHA Gerry Byrne was responding to widespread concerns that the technology will not be part of the new hospital facility

He says you do not spend $870-million on a new health care campus, and put cancer radiation therapy and do the necessary setup without putting a PET scanner in place.

But Health Minister John Haggie says the regulations call for one such machine per two-million people. The only one in Newfoundland and Labrador, which has a population of about 500,000, is located in St. John’s.

Space has been set aside for a PET Scanner in Corner Brook but acquiring and installing the machinery would take years. Haggie says it would be up to the oncologists to decide if they need a second scanner.