KUALA LUMPUR, June 16 (Bernama) -- Patients may incur higher bills from use of high-end medical equipment but this will be offset by early discovery of the sickness and early treatment, Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Datuk Dr Maximus Ongkili said Tuesday.

"New technology will give early diagnostic, discovery of the sickness, and early treatment rather than prolong results and the patients have to stay longer in hospitals," Ongkili said.

"In terms of time it will be less cost rather than expensive. New technology is supposed to reduce cost," he said.

He was asked to comment on concern raised by many that medical bills could be higher as hospitals, particularly the private ones, may charge more for the use of costly state-of-the-art medical related machines.

Ongkili was met at the launch of Tropicana Medical Centre's latest 32-Channel 1.5 Tesla Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) at the hospital premises here.

According to the medical centre, the RM4.5 million MRI machine is the first-of-its-kind in Malaysia and Southeast Asia.

Its key features include the 32-channel imaging which allows faster scanning turnaround time without compromising on image quality as well as the capacity to conduct complete cardiac studies from functional to coronary without radiation.

"I don't think we should think that the government does not have high-end machines either. The government does have high-end diagnostic and other machines in various specific hospitals," said TMC Life Sciences Bhd's chairman and managing director Professor Datuk Dr Khalid Abdul Kadir.

"We ourselves in the private sector can't afford some machines which are very important for diagnostic and prognosis purposes. But some of these machines, the government is able to provide them," he said.

Ongkili also said that there were many cases where low-income patients were referred to private hospitals whereby their bills were absorbed by the government.

"It is a matter of private-public cooperation for the benefit of patients," he said.

The medical centre said the MRI, with state-of-the-art technology from Siemens and faster scanning time, will minismise the patient's discomfort.

"The comprehensive MR cardiac will enable medical professionals to use the MRI as a diagnostic and evaluation tool for coronary artery disease, fibrosis or scarring of the heart muscles and damages caused by a heart attack such as heart muscle death," it said.

The MRI is also the first in Southeast Asia to be able to conduct high resolution scanning of the breast with dynamic enhancement, the medical centre said.

"This makes it an effective diagnostic tool for the detection of breast cancer as its high-resolution images allows for the detection of the disease from the initial stage," it said.

"Furthermore, the MRI procedure is usually done with no radiation and without the use of harmful contract agents, making it an alternative to conventional ultrasound and mammogram," it added.