Bermuda's first magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machine will be up and running by November, saving residents the bother of flying overseas to get specialised treatment.

But the public has been warned there will be disruption at King Edward VII Memorial Hospital, including the partial closure of the emergency entrance on the east of the building, due to the installation of the machine and upgrading of the Diagnostic Imaging Department.

Visitors and staff are being warned to use the front entrance to the hospital while work is carried out because there will be no traffic through the building.

The MRI machine will allow doctors to diagnose and monitor better diseases such as multiple sclerosis, neurological disorders, joint disease and metastases follow-ups for cancer patients which currently have to be carried out overseas.

Patients will be put in a tunnel, similar to a CAT scan, and using powerful magnets, sound waves will be bounced off to form a picture of the person's body to detect abnormalities.

Every year, 700 patients have to fly overseas to get this treatment because it is not available on the Island.

Bermuda Hospitals Board (BHB) says that while the MRI is expensive, the Island's health insurers have agreed to pay for the treatment.

Sending patients overseas and reimbursing them for flights and accommodation is already expensive, said Venetta Symonds, the chief operating officer for support services on the MRI project at a press conference yesterday.

The MRI machine the board will be buying costs $2.4 million. Part of the cash has come from donations.

The rest is being provided through a financing package with manufacturers General Electric.

BHB chairman Edward Saunders said: "This is a service that almost all of Bermuda has been clamouring for.

"There will be disruption as a result of this project and we would ask our clients, visitors, and businesses that service the hospital and we trust it will be kept to a minimum over the next two months."

Dr. Daniel Stovell, the director of Diagnostic Imaging, said the MRI machine will save money because one study rather than two or three involving X-rays or cat scans may be all that is needed.