The Indian Express              10.09.2013

Civic hospitals will soon get more MRI, CT scan machines

BMC has issued tenders to procure these for various civic hospitals on a public-private partnership basis. CT scan and MRI machines are used for imaging techniques for detecting cancer or structural abnormalities of the body or for studying parts of the body.

"We have floated tenders and got a list of queries from several bidders. The process of finalising the bidders will be done shortly," said additional municipal commissioner Manisha Mhaiskar.

Dr Seema Malik, head of BMC's peripheral hospitals, said, "It is more cost-effective if we opt for PPP tendering."

At present, hospitals with no CT scan or MRI facility depend on the three city-based hospitals and a few hospitals in the suburbs.

Now, the three tertiary hospitals — KEM, Sion and Nair —have one CT scan and MRI machine each. Similarly, there is an MRI machine each at Kandivali Shatabdi and Govandi Shatabdi hospitals and a CT scan machine each in Rajwadi, V N Desai and R N Cooper hospitals.

Sion Hospital dean Dr Avinash Supe said the hospital performs more than 15,000 CT scans and 5,000 MRI scans a year, translating to 40-50 CT scans and 15-20 MRI scans daily.

"We have one machine each, but one more CT scan and digital subtraction angiography (DSA) machine will be added in six months," Supe said.

DSA is an X-ray technique that subtracts images of bones and tissues and permits viewing of the cardiovascular system.

Ratna Yadav, a resident of Andheri (East), said she had to go to KEM Hospital for getting an MRI scan done for her 16-year-old son as Cooper Hospital lacked the required facility.

"It is time-consuming. Also, we have to move from one hospital to another for different tests," she said.