Law minister urges staff to use Rs88.189m equipment with care, stresses need for regular maintenance. PHOTO: WIKIPEDIA
A CT scan machine has been installed at the Allied Hospital’s Radiology Department. The plant has been installed at Rs88.189 million.
The inauguration ceremony was presided over by Law Minister Law Rana Sanaullah on Saturday.
Addressing the ceremony, the law minister said that this was the first CT scan machine of the kind provided to a government hospital in the province.
MPAs Rana Muhammad Afzal Khan and Khwaja Muhammad Islam, Allied Hospital Board of Management member Najma Afzal, Allied Hospital Medical Superintendent Dr Rashid Maqbool, Assistant Medial Superintendent Dr Khurram Altaf, radiology section’s In-charge Dr Syed Mehdi Raza, Punjab Medical College Principal Dr Zahid Yaseen Hashmi and some Health Department officials were also present.
Sanaullah said that Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif had taken cognizance of the hospital administration’s need for CT scan services.
He said the new service at the hospital will benefit thousands of patients from Faisalabad Division.
He urged the machine operators to use the equipment with care and stressed the need for its regular maintenance.
Earlier, MS Dr Rashid Maqbool said the CT Scan machine (Optima 660) was purchased in a transparent manner. He said the staff had been trained by an expert from General Electrics in Saudi Arabia.
He said the suppliers had provided another CT scan machine with a 250-KVA generator for emergency section of the hospital and had donated 5,000 films, a cardiac monitor, an ECG machine, a photostat machine, a fax machine and some computers. He said the company had also provided funds for training.
He said a CT scan test at the hospital will cost Rs1,500. It will be free for those who cannot afford it. He said private hospitals charged Rs4,000-Rs5,000 for the same test.
Later, talking to reporters, Sanaullah said that the Punjab government was focusing on improvement of health facilities and provision of diagnostic and treatment facilities at all government hospitals.
“Hundreds of thousands of patients are availing free medical facilities at the divisional headquarters hospitals,” he said.
He said the government planned to expand the Allied Hospital to cope with the growing number of patients. It also planned to improve medical facilities in the Ghulam Muhammadabad and Samanabad General Hospitals to decrease the load on Allied Hospital, he added.
Responding to a question the minister said that in addition to expanding the facilities at public hospitals in Faisalabad, two more hospitals will be constructed this year.
This will include a children’s hospital, he added.
Sanaullah said the government was also determined to set up more medical colleges in the province, of these, he said one will be set up in Faisalabad.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 28th, 2013.
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