| GMC's MRI machine develops snag, patients suffer | | | Avinash Azad
Jammu, June 9: Patients at the Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH), Jammu are facing grave inconvenience as the only Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) machine has developed technical snag due to erratic power supplies.
MRI is a highly sophisticated machine for advance diagnosis of functions of brain, spinal cord and other vital organs of the body. It is useful in neurological (brain), musculoskeletal, cardiovascular and ontological (cancer) imaging.
Sources told Early Times that it has been a week since the only MRI machine developed snag. Since then it is non-functional, causing grave inconvenience to seriously ill patients. "The equipment has not been functioning for the past few days. We are trying to repair the machine as early as possible", said a doctor, adding that they conduct MRI test on 15-20 patients on daily basis. "An alternate machine is required to cope up with such an emergency situation", he added.
Patients coming from deprived or not so well-off backgrounds are bearing the brunt of the prevailing situation.
According to the sources, the hospital charges Rs 2,500 for an MRI test whereas the private labs charge almost double the amount or even more. Hence, the patients are either being compelled to shell out extra money or wait in anticipation of an early repair of the all important machine.
"I had to pay Rs 5,000 for an MRI test in a private lab," rued Munshi Ram of Gajansoo Marh. But many, who cannot afford the high fee, have no option but to wait.
"We are waiting for the machine to get functional so that my father could undergo the test," said Raj Kumar Gupta, a local resident. "We have been visiting the hospital regularly since Saturday but the MRI room is closed since then. Our family is worried about my father's treatment but due to poor economic means we cannot get his tests conducted from outside," he rued.
The principal of the GMCH, Dr Ghyansham Dev Gupta, said, "due to power fluctuation the machine has developed snag. We have called a team of experts to repair it." |
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