Exactly two months after it got dysfunctional, the Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) machine of the associated hospital of Doon Medical College (DMC) starting operating again on Monday. The resumption of the services of the important radio diagnostic machine brought relief to the patients visiting the hospital for MRI.
The In-charge of the machine, Mahendra Bhandari said that the magnet assembly of the machine was changed and it starting functioning again from Monday. He said that results of the machine after reinstallation are good.
The associated hospital of the DMC is the only facility in Dehradun and nearby districts where facility of MRI is available in a Government centre. More than 25 patients used to avail the service of this machine daily and from last two months these patients were forced to visit private centres. The cost of an MRI in the hospital is only Rs 3500 and the Below Poverty line (BPl) patients do not have to pay anything for MRI here. The private centres charge about Rs 5000 to 7000 for an MRI scan.
Curiously enough, this important machine has a habit of getting broken down regularly. It developed snags three times in last year and has broken down twice already this year. Seemingly perplexed by its regular malfunctioning, the engineers of the Phillips India limited which installed the machine in the hospital and also had a 10 year maintenance contract decided to change the magnet assembly of the machine. Since the magnet was imported from Netherlands it took time of one and half months to arrive. later due to the size of the magnet, alteration in the hospital gates and chamber of the machine were needed which further consumed time.
The staff of the radiology department is of the view that the hospital management should install one more machine in view of the patient load. “This is the only MRI machine in government hospital in entire Garhwal division and it would be wise to install a new machine so that dependency on one machine is removed. The old machine could be installed in the trauma wing of the hospital,’’ suggested one of a staff member.