Nova Scotia to reduce mobile breast screening units from three to one in January

HALIFAX -- Nova Scotia's mobile breast screening program will be reduced from three mobile mammography units to one beginning in January.

Health Minister Dave Wilson says a technology upgrade to digital mammography in the one mobile unit and at 11 hospital sites across the province makes the change possible.

The Health Department says the remaining mobile unit can screen more people in a quicker fashion because its digital technology reduces wait times for images from minutes to 10 seconds.

Officials say although the number of stops will fall from 50 to 29, the mobile unit will still target areas in the province that are difficult to access.

They say the new route for the mobile unit will see it cover about 98 per cent of Nova Scotia.

Angie McAuley of the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation's Atlantic chapter says the change makes sense now that the upgraded technology is available at hospitals across the province.