The Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) machine of the Doon hospital here was transferred to the hospital authorities on Monday by the Mahajan Imaging Private limited.
The company was operating the MRI machine under Public Private Partnership (PPP) model for the last five years. On Monday the operation of machine was taken over by the Doon hospital as the state government decided not to renew the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the private operator.
The Principal Medical Superintendent (PMS) of Doon hospital Dr R S Aswal told The Pioneer that the formalities of the handing over of the MRI machine were done on Monday and the hospital has started the operation of the machine on its own now. He informed that 14 patients were serviced on Monday. The Doon hospital authorities have appointed the Head of Radiology Department Dr Yatindra Singh as the in charge of the machine and Mahendra Bhandari as its operating head.
The state Government entered into an MoU with Mahajan Imaging Private limited for operating a 1.5 Tesla MRI machine at Doon Hospital on June 2009, for a period of five years. It is interesting to note that the Machine was purchased with an amount of Rs 7 Crore by the state government and the private firm was managing only the operational aspects of the machine. The data of the medical and health Department reveal that the private firm was earning more profits than the state government. According to the MOU the Below Poverty line (BPl) patients were treated free of cost and Above Poverty line (APl) patients got subsidized MRI at Rs 3500.
The MRI machine of the Doon hospital is prone to regular breakdowns, these breakdowns raised eyebrows and questions were being raised about the operational aspect of the MRI machine and the MoU. In this year alone the machine has failed on two occasions on account of leakage of helium gas, resulting in loss of services to the patients and problem to the hospital authorities.