The Interior Health Authority says finding an ultrasound technician to fill the 20-month vacancy in Merritt is proving difficult because of a nationwide shortage.

After almost a year of pressure from the Thompson-Nicola Regional District (TNRD) and Merritt health groups to restaff the vacant sonographer position at the Nicola Valley Health Centre, the Interior Health Authority (IHA) says it has still not filled the position and blames a nationwide shortage of technicians.

"It's difficult," says Dan Fitch, IHA diagnostic imaging director for Thompson-Cariboo-Shuswap. "There's a huge shortage of sonographers…it's all across Canada."

The health centre in Merritt lost funding for the sonographer in April 2010. About three months later, the IHA removed Merritt's full ultrasound machine (GE Logic 9) and relocated it to Kamloops in order to relieve a backlog in patient care at Royal Inland Hospital (RIH). A portable ultrasound unit, donated by the late Doreen and Cor Polmans of Merritt, remains at the Nicola Valley Health Centre for use by technicians.

"We're trying," says Fitch.

"We've had positions in Kamloops that have been unfilled just as long as this one."

Currently, the IHA is advertising the position for Merritt as permanent part-time at two days a week (schedule negotiable). However, Fitch says it is actually a full-time equivalent position because it would incorporate a technician who works part-time somewhere else, like at RIH. IHA has advertised the position since February 2011.

The IHA has been criticized for making the position unattractive to applicants.

"We sort of feel that if Interior Health does it (hiring), it probably won't get filled," says Margaret Carlson, a director with the local Nicola Valley Health Care Endowment Foundation Board. The Endowment Foundation and the Nicola Valley Health Care Auxiliary are citizen-driven organizations that help provide medical equipment and services in the region.

"We felt it could be utilized better if people come from other communities," Carlson adds.

Fraser-Nicola MLA Harry Lali echoes her statements and has suggested that the IHA hire a full-time technologist exclusively for Merritt and bring overflow patients from Kamloops, Kelowna, and other communities to Merritt. Lali says the move would benefit everyone, as it would reduce waiting lists at RIH and Kelowna General Hospital while eliminating the need for Merritt patients to find transportation to Kamloops and Kelowna, where they might also have to find accommodations depending on the wait time or duration of procedures.

Fitch adds that the IHA will consider partnerships in order to help staff the position.

The TNRD, which funds the health authority, says it will not relent on pressuring the IHA to bring ultrasound back to Merritt.

"I expect to see things move a little better this time around," says TNRD Area N director Herb Graham.

"We're not going to let go of it."

Merritt ultrasound to remain in Kamloops

Fitch says Merritt's ultrasound machine will remain in Kamloops for the time being.

"We'd assess that at the time," he says of it possibly being returned. "It's quite possible that they (Nicola Valley Health Care Centre) could use the portable machine."

He says the full ultrasound unit is well used at RIH and is reducing the wait list to a "manageable level."