A high-tech computerised X-ray service at the Brown-Darrell Clinic is to shut because of “severe reductions in payments”, it was revealed yesterday.

Clinic owner Ewart Brown blamed the Bermuda Health Council for the closure of the CT scan service.

However, in a statement issued today, the council said it was “incorrect” for the clinic to suggest it had been targeted.

The group said its recommendations were based on “a form of price control” for imaging under a methodology that had been under review since 2013, to keep services affordable.

The new methodology has been under “considerable and lengthy consultation and discussion with stakeholders since 2013”, the council said, and was implemented in 2015, starting with ultrasound and X-ray before moving on to MRI and CT service in 2017.

The same approach was adopted for all service providers.

The response came after Dr Brown said that he had “never anticipated that we would be put out of business by a government agency”.

The executive director of the Smith’s clinic and Bermuda Healthcare Services in Paget added: “Few businesses could survive up to 87 per cent cuts in revenue with only two weeks’ notice.

“No local or exempt company has ever been treated so harshly.

The CT scanning service will close at the end of the month.

The CT unit at the Brown-Darrell Clinic has provided back-up CT services to the King Edward VII Memorial Hospital for ten years, as well as a private option for patients who require a scan.

Dr Brown said: “We have also been at the industry forefront in providing highly specialised physician reports and in reducing turnaround time.”

He added that Bermuda Healthcare Services would not be affected by the closure.

•UPDATE: the article has been amended to include fresh response from the Bermuda Health Council.

•To read the Bermuda Health Council’s statement in full, click on the PDF under “Related Media”.