The Comprehensive Maintenance Contract (CMC) of Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) machine of the associated hospital of Government Doon Medical College (GDMC) is yet to be renewed even though the term of last year’s contract has expired on May 22 this year. The all important machine is out of order since Friday and it is learnt that the officials of the Phillips India limited, the company responsible for installation and maintenance of the machine told the hospital management in no uncertain terms that the machine would be repaired only when the CMC of this year is renewed.
The annual CMC of the machine is about Rs22 lakh. The threat of the company galvanised the hospital administration which reportedly assured the company that the contract would be renewed soon. After this assurance the engineers of the company started work on the fault of the machine on Monday.
The Medical Superintendent (MS) of the hospital Dr KK Tamta told The Pioneer that the CMC of the company is being renewed. He said that the medical college has received a budget of Rs50 lakh under maintenance head and CMC and AMC of all the machines would now be renewed. On the recent fault in the MRI machine, the MS said that engineers are working on the problem and the machine would be made operational soon.
This ultra modern 1.5 Tesla MRI machine was purchased by the State Government with an amount of Rs7 Crore in the year 2009 and was installed in Doon hospital-the biggest Government hospital of the State. This machine is the only facility in a Government hospital in Dehradun and nearby areas. This machine is a blessing for the poor patients as the MRI of Below Poverty line (BPl) patients is done free of cost while for others the hospital charges a modest amount of Rs3500.
However this machine is error prone and has a history of breakdowns. It developed snags three times in last year and has already broken down three times this year. In month of May the company replaced the entire magnet assembly of the machine to tide over the problem of repeated breakdowns.