Members of Shetland’s fishing fleet have made a generous donation towards an appeal to buy an MRI scanner for the Gilbert Bain Hospital in Lerwick.
The owners of seven Shetland fishing vessels are donating £100,000 to the fund.
At present all patients requiring MRIs must travel to Aberdeen to have them carried out. But the Whalsay families behind the Adenia, Antarctic II, Antares, Charisma, Research, Serene and Zephyr decided to make the sizeable contribution as a gesture of support for the Shetland Health Board Endowment Fund.
They hope this will help to stimulate the fund further by enabling the organisers to gain additional funding from local and national sources towards the target of £1.65million.
Shetland Fishermen’s Association pelagic committee chairman and Charisma skipper Davie Hutchison said: “The case for the Gilbert Bain Hospital in Lerwick to have its own MRI scanner, which is used to diagnose and monitor a huge variety of medical conditions, is overwhelming.
“It will result in big savings in travel costs and reduce stress and inconvenience for patients.
“The pelagic fishermen all felt very strongly that this project will bring real benefit to our whole community and we are delighted to be able to come together and support this unique cause in the manner we have.
“It is our understanding that once 50% of the funding target has been met, applications can be made to other funding bodies outside Shetland and that has to be the goal.”
Lorraine Hall, from Shetland Health Board, said the donation was “overwhelmingly generous and accepted with gratitude”.
She added: “This donation has set the MRI Scanner Appeal on track to reach its target of £1.65million. Thank you to all the families involved.”
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a type of scan that uses strong magnetic fields and radio waves to produce detailed images of the inside of the body.
An MRI scan can be used to examine almost any part of the body. The results of a scan can be used to help diagnose conditions such as cancer, heart disease, stroke, dementia and MS, and allow treatments to be planned.