MRI equipment at Sivaganga hospital under repair for over two months

Frequent snags in MRI machine at Sivaganga hospital lead patients to Government Rajaji Hospital in Madurai.

Due to frequent snags, the Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scan machine at Sivaganga Medical College Hospital, patients are referred to Government Rajaji Hospital in Madurai.  

The MRI scan centre at the Sivaganga hospital is being operated by a private player on a contract basis, said hospital sources.  As the machine plays a major role in precise scanning of nerves, bones, muscles, tumours, among others, the scan results are used for surgery and diagnosis. 

Around 10 patients used to make use of the scan centre.  The service is offered for free under the Chief Minister Health Insurance Scheme and those without insurance nerd to pay ₹2,300 for a scan.  As the machine is about 10 years old, it has started developing snages frequently in the past year. 

Further, repairing the machine is said to be cumbersome. So, whenever the machine develops a snag, it remains defunct for about two months.  

Now, the machine under repair remains idle for two months and patients are referred to Madurai GRH. But as people can ill-afford to go that far to get just the scan, they mostly get it done at private scan centres in Sivaganga itself, a doctor said.  

By September the contract period of the private firm will get over. But the private party is hesitant to replace the old MRI machine with a new one.  A hospital source attributed the delay in repairing the machine to shortage in helium gas which is used for operating it.