Saroor
Jammu, Sept 21: The out stationed patients waiting in queue for hours or weeks to avail the facility of Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) machine will heave a sigh of relief as new equipment is to be installed soon at Government Medical College and Hospital Jammu.
With installation of additional facilities, more than 70 MRIs will be conducted on a daily basis and the load will be reduced to a larger extent.
“The Jammu GMC will soon have two MRI machines and thereafter more than 60 MRIs will be conducted on daily basis as presently, due to lone machines available in the division level (at Jammu GMC), load of patients is much higher,” official sources said.
They added that the state-of-the-art MRI machine which is going to be started in Jammu GMC is expected to provide relief to the patients from a long wait.
“With its installation, the hospital will have two MRI machines that will conduct over 70 scans on an average per day,” sources said, adding that a new ultrasound section with installation of two new machines is also being started in GMC to relieve patients under one roof.
Notably, the MRI machine was installed in the Radiology Department in 1999, which was upgraded in 2012.
“The machine is operated from 10 am to 10 pm and on an average 30 to 32 MRIs are being done, while the patient load for MRI at the division level is much higher, which keeps patients waiting for months,” they added and said that the the capacity of the old machine is 150 Tesla, while the capacity of the new machine is 300 and will give better results.
“The worth crores machine has been purchased from Turkey and its trial run is being done for the last few days. After installing the camera in the machine, it will be formally dedicated to the patients,” said an official.
He revealed that at present, two ultrasounds are functional in the radiology department, one in OPD and two in the emergency out of which, one of the machines in the emergency ward is in the block of the cancer department but because of some technical hitches, it sometimes becomes difficult to operate it.
“New ultrasound section has been created along with the emergency, which will provide a 24-hour ultrasound facility. In an emergency, presently 200 to 300 ultrasounds are being done in 24 hours whereas around 50 ultrasounds are being done from 10 am to 4 pm,” he added.
“The final touch is being given for the start of the new ultrasound and MRI sections. The MRI is being run on a trial run and is planned to be launched in the next couple of weeks that will provide relief to the patients as thereafter two machines will become functional at a time in the GMC,” said a senior doctor.
