Over 15,750 people are waiting for an MRI - nearly double the amount that were on the waiting list six months ago. 

Answering a parliamentary question by PN MP Jerome Caruana Cilia on Monday, Health Minister Jo Etienne Abela said 15,768 people were waiting for an MRI. 

Answering a similar question by PN MP Ian Vassallo at the end of June 2023, then-health minister Chris Fearne had said 8,791 people were waiting for an MRI. 

This translates to a nearly 80% increase.

In October of 2022, there were 9,163 people on the waiting list, with 738 MRIs carried out every week. 

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a noninvasive medical imaging technique that creates detailed images of the body's organs and tissues, used to diagnose a wide range of conditions. 

On Monday Abela told Caruana Cilia that when he was still Minister for the Elderly, a process kicked off for an MRI machine to start operating at St Vincent De Paule Residence so that elderly residents would not need to travel to Mater Dei Hospital for a scan.

1,627 on waiting list for home for the elderly

Answering another parliamentary question - this time by PN MP Vassallo, Abela said 1,627 people were waiting to be admitted toa home for the elderly run by the state or the private sector.

Last year - in May - Abela had said there were only four people on the waiting list to be admitted to the government’s largest home for the elderly while another 1,556 were waiting to be admitted into other homes.