Nair’s shut MRI machine sends patients in tizzy

Mumbai: With the sole Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) machine at civic-run Nair Hospital having been shut down, patients have to now turn to other state/civic hospitals where the waiting period is anywhere up to seven months, said health sources.

After the death of a 32-year-old man who got sucked into the MRI machine at Nair on January 27 this year, the hospital has shut it down since Monday.

Director of major civic-run hospitals Dr Avinash Supe said that most of the patients are being referred to Lokmanya Tilak Municipal Hospital in Sion and KEM Hospital in Parel for MRI scans. There too, due to overload, poor patients are being told to visit government facilities in Govandi and Borivali instead.

Abdul Gaffar Khan (45), a patient, told The Asian Age, “I have been running from pillar to post for my treatments. Doctors have advised that I undertake a MRI scan to detect the problem. But when I came here, I was asked to wait for four months. After the MRI mishap, the other referred hospital too, is not entertaining me for a MRI scan,” he said.

To get their MRI scans at civic-run hospitals, patients have to wait till August at least, by which time their condition is likely to worsen. The alternative is for patients’ families to scramble to pay a minimum Rs 4,000 for an ordinary MRI test or Rs 8,000 to Rs 10,000 for a  detailed one.