Ontario Reducing Wait Times for Endoscopies, MRI and CT Scans in Windsor

August 8, 2025

Three new community surgical and diagnostic centres will connect more people to publicly funded surgeries and procedures sooner

WINDSOR — The Ontario government is investing $155 million over two years to add 57 new community surgical and diagnostic centres licensed to deliver MRI and CT scans, and gastrointestinal (GI) endoscopy services across the province. The expansion will help 1.2 million people access publicly funded procedures faster and is part of the government’s plan to invest in and protect Ontario’s health-care system.

Following a Call for Applications, the following centres in Windsor have been approved to provide either GI endoscopy services, MRI or CT Scans:

Facility	Service	Expected Licensing Year
RAAMP Endoscopy	GI Endoscopy	2026
Rose City Endoscopy	GI Endoscopy	2025
GMNI MRI/CT Windsor	MRI	2026
GMNI MRI/CT Windsor	CT	2026

Licensing for these new centres will start as early as summer 2025.

“The Government of Ontario is proud to strengthen and expand access to health care by delivering faster, more convenient diagnostic services in Windsor-Essex,” said Andrew Dowie, Member of Provincial Parliament for Windsor–Tecumseh. “The launch of RAAMP Endoscopy and Rose City Endoscopy, along with expanded MRI and CT services at GMNI MRI/CT Windsor, marks a significant step forward for our region and the province as a whole.”

RAAMP Endoscopy and Rose City Endoscopy are part of 22 newly licensed centres that will deliver GI endoscopy procedures across the province, adding up to 420,000 procedures over two years, more than three times the province’s original goal.

Additionally, the expansion of MRI and CT Scan services to GMNI MRI/CT Windsor is part of 35 newly licensed centres.This expansion is expected to provide access to vital diagnostic imaging for up to 828,000 additional patients over the next two years—surpassing the province’s initial goal by more than four times.

These expansions will ensure that patients across the province receive access to medically necessary procedures within the recommended clinical timeframes.

“This announcement marks a major milestone for Windsor-Essex,” said Dr. Wassim Saad, President of RAAMP Endoscopy. “The addition of RAAMP Endoscopy means our residents will have better, faster access to essential procedures – right here at home. We are deeply grateful to the Ontario government, the Ministry of Health and MPP Dowie for recognizing the needs of our community and investing in solutions that will improve health outcomes for thousands of people. At RAAMP Endoscopy, we are committed to delivering high-quality care that reflects the values and strength of our region.”

“When it comes to wait times for surgeries and procedures, the status quo is not acceptable. That’s why our government is taking bold, decisive action to protect Ontario’s health-care system by boosting access to vital surgeries and diagnostic imaging so that families can conveniently access the care they need sooner,” said Sylvia Jones, Deputy Premier and Minister of Health. “By licensing 57 new community surgical and diagnostic centres across Ontario, we are reducing wait times and ensuring more people can receive timely care in their community, for years to come.”

As part of Your Health: A Plan for Connected and Convenient Care, the government is taking action to protect Ontario by reducing surgical and diagnostic backlogs in surgical to make it easier and faster for people to connect to publicly funded surgeries and procedures, when and where they need it.

QUOTES

“On behalf of our team at Rose City Endoscopy, we are very thankful to the government of Ontario for the recent initiatives with respect to making medical services more accessible. Rose City Endoscopy has been a leader in outpatient gastrointestinal endoscopy in our region with 50,891 outpatient gastrointestinal procedures and 146,864 patient appointments provided at our centre since we opened in 2012. I would like to remark that the funding for these procedures was provided by the hard-working surgeons and anaesthesiologists, who work in our clinic. We are extremely thankful to MPP Dowie, as well as Premier Doug Ford, for including Rose City Endoscopy among the list of funded facilities within our region. While significant percentage of our funding is still going to be provided by our doctors, the addition of government funding will allow us to develop our facility further to a top world-class level.”

Vladislav Khokhotva, MD, BSc, FRCSC

Rose City Endoscopy Medical Director

QUICK FACTS

For over 30 years, community surgical and diagnostic centres have been providing publicly funded diagnostic imaging, surgeries and procedures.
There are currently over 900 community surgical and diagnostic centres across the province; the majority provide diagnostic imaging services.
New community surgical and diagnostic centres build on the progress the Ontario government has made since the launch of A Plan for Connected and Convenient Care including:
- Achieving the shortest surgical wait for key procedures times of any province in Canada in 2024 with over 83 per cent of people receiving their procedure within clinically recommended target times.
- Funding up to 65,568 MRI and 31,220 CT operating hours in existing community surgical and diagnostic centres over the past year.
- Adding 50 new MRI machines in 43 hospitals across the province to increase MRI capacity and services.
- Adding four new licensed cataract centres to provide more publicly funded cataract and other eye surgeries. In the past year, the government has funded 40,000 eye surgery procedures at community surgical and diagnostic centres.
- Eliminating the backlog of cervical cancer screening tests at the end of August 2023. Testing turnaround times returned to the pre-pandemic standard of 10 to 14 days.
Existing centres have transitioned to the new Quality Assurance (QA) program. Routine inspections by Accreditation Canada’s new QA program began October 2024.
No centre can refuse an insured service to a patient who chooses not to purchase uninsured upgrades and no patient can pay to receive insured services faster than anyone else.

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