Govind Sharma
JAMMU, Jan 10: The patients have been left to suffer by GMCH authorities as the lone Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) machine in the hospital has been put under process of upgradation without making an alternative arrangement for the same.
An MRI machine is used to scan patients and determine the severity of certain injuries. It uses a magnetic field and radio waves to create detailed images of the body.
According to the reports, there is only one MRI Machine in the GMCH, which have been also put to upgradation work about five days back without making any alternate arrangement, as a result of which the patients are suffering badly and forced to go to private hospitals for undergoing test, which is quite costly.
The patients are bound to opt for private hospital and pay almost double amount for one MRI scan. At GMCH an MRI scan costs Rs 2500 while the private hospitals charge about Rs 5000 for the same.
Accusing GMCH authorities, a patient (a labourer by profession) said this is harassment of poor people like us who cannot afford to pay Rs 5000 for an MRI scan in the private hospital, adding the concerned authorities should have at least made some alternate arrangements for the same so that the poor people like us who come here from various corners of the State seeking specialized treatment, did not suffer.
Another patient, Girdhari Lal said that it is quite negligent on part of the hospital authorities that without making some alternate arrangement, they started upgradation work on the lone MRI machine available in the hospital, which may take about 3 weeks to complete and till then patients will have to suffer.
It is very surprising that there is only one MRI Machine in such a big hospital which caters to health needs of 10 districts of Jammu region. He asserted for installation of one more such machine in the hospital so that in case of any snag in one machine, patients may not suffer.
When contacted, Principal and Dean, GMCH, Dr Ghanshyam Dev confirmed that the lone MRI machine is under upgradation work and it will take at least two to three weeks to complete the work. He said there is no doubt that the patients are suffering but it was our compulsion to upgrade the existing machine and go with the new technology. He said that the upgradation of the machine was need of the hour, as after the upgradation of the machine its efficiency will increase and more patients may be covered in one day. With the upgradation of machine, its scan length and image resolution will increase while the scan time will decrease and at the same time it will also prove useful in reading cardiac functions.
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