CT scanner breathing its last at Pindi hospital

Nonfunctional machine forcing hospital to turn away patients.

RAWALPINDI:

The only CT scanner at Benazir Bhutto Hospital (BBH) has been non-functional for the last year and a half.

Bought with a reported cost of Rs60 million, the machine has functioned for only half of its three year installation period at BBH. Ever since, the hospital administration has failed to either have the scanning machine repaired or replaced.

“The test is necessary to immediately diagnose the impact of a head or abdomen injury and is essential in helping to save a patient’s life,” said a BBH medical practitioner seeking anonymity. The scan is required for a variety of head injuries and examining the extent of damage to internal organs caused by certain infections and strokes, he said.

The non-functioning equipment has forced BBH doctors to turn relevant patients away asking them to go to the District Headquarters (DHQ) Hospital or private laboratories. However, the staggering difference in the cost puts the problem in a starker light.

According to a local doctor, the cost of a CT scan at BBH is between Rs1,800 to Rs2,000 while the private sector charges Rs4,000 to Rs6,000 for it. A majority of trauma patients who visit BBH are poor, which places a greater urgency on the situation.

When asked about the machine, BBH Medical Superintendent Dr Asif Qadir Mir confirmed that it was nonfunctional, adding that efforts are being made to install a new machine at the site.

Mir said that in consultation with Rawalpindi Medical College Principal Dr Musadaq Khan and approval from the Allied Hospitals’ management board, the request for a new CT scanner had been forwarded to the health department for approval.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 6^th, 2012.