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| The locked room that houses the ultrasound machine at the emergency wing of PMCH, on Sunday. Picture by Ranjeet Kumar Dey |
Patna Medical College and Hospital administration, it appears, has no time to repair the ultrasound machine at the emergency wing of the health hub.
The facility is lying defunct for over three months. The irony is that the PMCH is not aware that the ultrasound machine at the emergency wing of the hospital is not functioning.
Senior doctors also do not have the idea about how long the machine has been lying defunct.
An ultrasound machine helps in diagnosing cases of abdominal injury as well as problems in liver, kidney, and gall bladder, among others.
When asked about the defunct ultrasound machine at the emergency wing of the health hub, G.N. Singh, the head of the radiology department at PMCH, said: “Yes, the machine is defunct for the past one-and-a-half months.”
“We have informed the supplier and asked him to repair the machine as soon as possible. The maintenance of the machine is the supplier’s responsibility. So we have done our job by informing him about the problem,” Singh added. While deputy superintendent Bimal Karak had a different reply.
“As far as I know there is no problem in the ultrasound machine at the emergency wing. However, the CT scan machine and the dialysis machine had developed problems a few days ago. But both the machines have been repaired,” Karak said.
A senior doctor with the PMCH said every day around 50 patients, who need to be diagnosed with the ultrasound machine, visit the health hub.
Ramlal Babu (50), whose wife Indumati Devi had to get an ultrasound done from a private diagnostic centre on Saturday, said: “It is a shame that the biggest state-run hospital can’t provide its patient an ultrasound facility. We have to pay more in private clinics to get the ultrasound done.”