Civic-run hospitals offer an MRI scan at Rs 2,500 — which is a lot less than the rate charged by private hospitals and diagnostic centres. (Representational image)Need to get an MRI scan done at the civic-run Sion hospital? Then be prepared to wait till November or shell out more at private radiology centres. The overburdened radiology wing at the OPD (outpatient department) of Sion hospital has only one MRI machine, pushing up the waiting period for patients requiring MRI scans to three months.
For over a month, Allaudhin Sheikh, 27, a call-centre operator, has been suffering from frequent headaches with bleeding from his nose. Despite consulting local doctors, his condition hasn’t shown any improvement. Last week, the Dharavi resident went to Sion hospital, where doctors asked him to undergo an MRI scan. But to his surprise, when he went to the radiology department, he was given a date in November.
“At first, I thought I heard it wrong. But when I asked them again about the waiting period, they said it was three months…,” said Sheikh. When he enquired about other possible ways to get the scan done, he was referred to private centres.
Civic-run hospitals offer an MRI scan at Rs 2,500 — which is a lot less than the rate charged by private hospitals and diagnostic centres. But Sheikh had to pay Rs 10,000 for his MRI at a private centre. “As we can’t afford treatment in private hospitals, we go to public hospitals. Despite this, we are referred outside for tests and we are forced to borrow money from friends to undergo the tests,” he said.
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The hospital has two MRI machines. One for emergency patients that works round-the-clock, and the other one is for OPD patients.
The radiology department at Sion hospital receives around 40 OPD patients daily who have to undergo MRI scans. Most of the patients are from Dharavi — the biggest slum in Asia.
“We also feel bad to refer needy, poor patients outside or ask them to wait for months but due to the heavy load, we have to prioritize patients. Actually, the hospital doesn’t have the infrastructure to attend to such a huge number of patients,” said a resident doctor at the hospital.
The situation further worsens when either of the two machines malfunctions.
To address the issue, Dr Mohan Joshi, the dean of Sion hospital, is starting a centre on a public-private partnership basis in Dharavi where three CT and MRI scans would be installed. Patients at the upcoming centre would be able to avail services at the rate offered by civic hospitals. “We would start the centre from January. The machines are being imported from outside India. This will help in curtailing the waiting period,” he said.