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Docs question MRI machines 'donation' Claim It's BMC's Ploy To Benefit Pvt Players Mumbai: The BMC may call it a 'donation', but public health experts see it as a trap. They feel that the installation of two MRI machines at civic hospitals are a sugar-coated pill that will make affordable healthcare more inaccessible to the poor. Senior doctors wonder how such an unfair proposal was accepted despite resistance from the medical fraternity. "None of the users (doctors) from the top three civic hospitals (KEM, Nair and Sion) agreed to the proposal because the machine is of slower technology,'' said a civic doctor. Two MRI machines, hailed as a super diagnostic tool, will be installed by the Lilabai Jaisagar Sancheti Trust at the corporation's Sion and Nair Hospitals. But doctors question the BMC's 'favouritism' towards the trust when the civic budget had allocated money for the purchase. The budgetary allocation was for a three-tesla machine while the trust is planning to install a second-hand machine of 1.5 tesla. The common sentiment in civic hospital corridors is that private players will profiteer at the cost of poor patients. Some go to the extent of calling it a backdoor entry for private players into the public set-up. "How will this private-public partnership work? Free patients will require the dean's permission, but what about emergencies in the middle of the night?'' asked another senior doctor. Worse, the MRI machine-an invaluable training tool for future doctors-may be out of reach of students. A senior doctor points out that over 500 medical students come to Sion Hospital for training, but private players would deprive students of hands-on experience. The Sancheti trust will be given premises within the hospital to install an MRI machine, get its own doctors to operate it as well as charge a hefty fee for it. About a quarter of the poor patients will be diagnosed for free at these centres, while the remaining will have to queue up and pay Rs 2,500 for an MRI scan. Budget allocations of Rs 7 crore each for Nair and Sion Hospitals were made in the civic budget a couple of years ago. But when the trust came forward, the BMC rushed in. "The donation came to the head office,'' is all Sion Hospital dean M E Yeolekar will offer. But officials at the BMC headquarters insist that a private player would inject the right dose of professionalism needed in the public health set-up. "If the machine goes on the blink for any reason, we have put in a clause which makes it mandatory for the private player to fix it in 24 hours,'' says a top ranking official. "If the machine under our care stops functioning, there is a long bureaucratic protocol to follow, ensuring that it will takes weeks if not months to start working again.'' OUT OF ORDER Avisit to Sion Hospital's ultrasound room speaks volumes about the BMC's attitude. "The ultrasound machine is not working. Go to a private clinic.'' That's what an eight-month pregnant Wadala resident was told when she went to the hospital on Tuesday for her monthly checkup. The only ultrasound machine in the hospital's radiology department has not been working and the civic administration has not bothered to fix it for two months. From routine check-ups to detailed investigations for terminal patients, the department performs 300 ultrasound scans on a given day, but patients are routinely being sent to more expensive private set-ups for basic diagnosis. The scan which is offered at subsidised rates of Rs 100 at Sion Hospital costs thrice as much in private laboratories. Doctors have repeatedly appealed to the administration about the breakdown, but they are told the "repair process'' needs approval. Dean M E Yeolekar says the proposal has been sent to the headquarters and is in its final stages of approval, but doctors question whether two months isn't long enough for approval. BACK-DOOR ENTRY? Two second-hand MRI machines will be installed at the corporation's Sion and Nair Hospitals URL : http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Repository/ml.asp?Ref=VE9JTS8yMDA2LzExLzAyI0FyMDEyMDA=&Mode=HTML&Locale=english-skin-custom |
| Also see : Public Health, HIV / AIDS, HIV / AIDS : News Articles, Dementia & Alzheimer's, Visually Challenged, Community Health Insurance |
