By Asma Kundi
ISLAMABAD: Crucial diagnostic machines including Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), X-ray and ultrasound equipment have not been functioning at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) Hospital, leaving poor patients in the lurch, who are forced to go to expensive private labs for crucial tests.
The PIMS, the largest public sector hospital in the capital, caters to thousands of deserving patients from the twin cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad, adjoining districts and far-off places such as Gilgt-Baltistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir.
A hospital official on condition of anonymity told World Echo that the machines were out of order for months and no one was taking responsibility to fix the out-of-order machines.
“Around 12,000 patients visit the hospital including the Mother and Child Care Centre, the Cardiac Center and the Burn Centre of the health facility. The patients visiting the emergency are not included in this number,” the official said.
He said that “it becomes very difficult for patients, who visit the emergency in case of accidents and we refer the severely wounded people to private labs in G-8 Markaz for MRI and other tests.
MRI machine inoperative
When asked about the exact number of patients visit the hospital requiring MRI tests, he replied: “We would have the number of patients if we register them in our system. Unfortunately, we don’t register any needy patients because the only MRI machine remains ineffective around the year.”
The MRI test is expensive in private labs as it costs Rs12,000 to Rs25,000. And most patients could not afford to pay such a hefty sum to private labs.
Fifty-year-old Noor-un-Nisa, a resident of Bhara Kahu, said that she fell from stairs and hurt her knee badly. “Now after conducting an X-ray. I visited the PIMS for follow-up check-ups, but they say the machine is not working and ask me to go to the National Institute of Rehabilitation Medicine (NIRM) or a private lab. Doctors at the NIRM hospital give lengthy dates due to the workload while private labs are demanding Rs12,000 for the test. I am a poor woman and I cannot afford to pay such a huge sum,” she said.
PIMS Executive Director Dr Khalid Masud claimed that the MRI machine was functioning. “I am in a meeting and cannot talk to you now,” he said. He said that a new MRI machine has been imported and it has reached the port.
