NEW DELHI: Safdarjung Hospital, one of the busiest hospitals in the national capital is facing a new crisis. The only MRI machine at the hospital used to conduct tests is 13 years old and far from being in
mint condition. According to the hospital authorities, the MRI machine which has a 1.5 telsa power was first set up in the year 2006.“The machine was facing trouble for the past two days and didn’t function, however, today morning it was started again and tests were being conducted,” said Dr Sunil Gupta, Medical Superintendent, Safdarjung Hospital to the Morning Standard.
The machine, owing to complication in its thermostat had stopped functioning completely on Thursday and Friday which meant that many patients had to get the tests done from private clinics.According to patients, to get a date for the MRI tests, one may have to wait for three to six months.This however is not the first time that the machine has run into trouble. The authorities informed that the machine encountered problems 10 days ago as well.
“That time we had ordered for some costly machine parts from Singapore to operate it. It was running smoothly till Wednesday but then again from Thursday onwards, the machine failed to operate,” said an official on condition of anonymity. According to Dr Gupta, the hospital is expected to receive a fresh set of MRI machines next month. While one machine is likely to be installed soon, the other one will be installed in due time.