Four years after it was delivered to the south-west following a campaign, the machine is now scanning up to 20 patients a day who no longer need to travel to Geelong or Melbourne for the important service. 

There are some limits on the service. 

Last week The Standard reported that some south-west children requiring a general anaesthetic during MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) scans cannot be seen. 

“We do see kids here,”  radiologist Vijay Patheyar said. “Not all kids need anaesthesia. We can do kids under sedation. They are two different things. We normally do it with help from paediatricians.  

“We saw 20 children up to the age of four and 256 children up to the age 16.” 

The MRI machine was installed at South West Healthcare in 2010 and is operated by private group Healthcare Imaging Services. 

South West Healthcare paediatrician Christian Fiedler said there were hopes to improve the service. 

“For the patient it’s an amazing benefit to get the scan here locally and not have to travel to Geelong or even the children’s hospital,” Dr Fiedler said. 

“There’s some children that we still cannot do here yet ... they just can’t lie still (and) they need a general anaesthetic.

“We need special anaesthetic equipment because of the MRI cannot contain any metal. 

“Everything has to be plastic and it’s quite expensive equipment.”