KARACHI: Sindh health department has failed release funds for early maintenance and repairing of CT scan and MRI machines lying out of order in Karachi hospitals since several years due to the negligence of health department and Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC), sources at health department told PPI on Monday.
The major diagnostic machines are out of order at of major hospitals of the Karachi city, including Dr Ruth Phafu Civil Hospital (CHK) Karachi, Abbasi Shaheed Hospital (ASH), Sindh Government Lyari General Hospital, Sindh Government Qatar Hospital Orangi, Sindh Government Hospital Liaquatabad and National Institute of Child Health (NICH).
The heads and medical superintendents of these health facilities were unable to get MRI and CT scan machines repaired yet due to the shortage of funds and rise in maintenance and repairing charges with passage of times.
The visiting and indoor patients at Dr Ruth Pfau Civil Hospital Karachi are facing hardships as CT scan and MRI machines are lying out of order since almost two years. The CHK is a Sindh’s largest teaching hospital where big number of patients was brought every day from different areas of Karachi and rest of Sindh, where some of them need diagnostic services such as angiography, CT scan and MRI.
Similarly, visiting patients are facing grave inconvenience at the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital (ASH) as two major diagnostic machines are also not functioning since several months in Karachi Metropolitan Corporation run hospital.
The CT scan machines are also not operating in Sindh Government Lyari General Hospital Karachi, Sindh Government Qatar Hospital Orangi Town and Sindh Government Hospital Liaquatabad. The sole MRI machine of National Institute of Child Health (NICH) was also non-functional since one and half year. The children are being shifted to private diagnostic lab for tests.
Presently, CT scan and MRI machines are only working in Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC) which was run by a non-governmental organization Patients’ Aid Foundation (PAF) while CT scan machine is also operating in Sindh Government Hospital Korangi and Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto (SMBB) Institute of Trauma. Media Coordinator to the Health Minister Sindh Mehar Khursheed was not available for comments.