Jamshedpur, April 24: The six-bed intensive care unit (ICU) and the CT scan unit at the Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Medical College and Hospital (MGM) are serving no purpose for patients due to the lack of trained personnel.

Only two patients turned up at the ICU in the past four months while patients are discouraged from going to the CT scan unit allegedly due to lack of trained personnel.

While beds in the spacious and air-conditioned hall of the ICU, located on the first floor of the emergency block, remain perennially unoccupied, serious cases, especially patients involved in road mishaps, continue to succumb to injuries downstairs.

Recently, 32-year-old TB patient Md Sahwaz had to wait for three days for his CT scan report. By the time the report arrived, the patient had died.

In another case, 27-year-old Shanker Nisad was refused a CT scan by the head of the radiology department because of the lack of technicians. Nisad was later shifted to Mercy Hospital in Baridih.

His relative told The Telegraph that they had to move Nisad from MGM as the treatment was not satisfactory. “It was not just due to the CT scan issue, but we felt there was a complete lack of coordination between the doctors,” said his mother-in-law Soni Devi. “I was afraid to let him lie there.”

Hospital superintendent R.Y. Chaudhary, however, said the ICU is operational.

“The ICU has been operational from November 9. But it would take some time to make full use of the facility. We are treating several patients in the intensive cardiac care unit (ICCU),” he said.

In the ICCU, a nurse produced an admission register that showed the entry of 80 patients from the day the facility was inaugurated.

About the CT scan centre’s poor performance, Chaudhary said: “A.K. Verma, the head of the radiology department, has trained only one technician but we need three more, besides two trained nurses, for the facility.”