Rawalpindi government hospitals: only one MRI machine catering to needs of three million people

Three big government hospitals in the highly populated city of Rawalpindi have only one 'Magnetic Resonance Imaging' (MRI) machine, catering the need of three million people. Though the provincial government had increased the budget for the health sector to Rs 43 billion last year, big cities like Rawalpindi having over 3 million population, have only one MRI machine, which most of the time remains out of order.
A survey conducted by Business Recorder in three major government-run hospitals, namely District Headquarters Hospital (DHQ), Benazir Bhutto Hospital (BBH) and Holy Family Hospital (HFH), showed that patients are facing serious problems due to nonavailability of MRI machines in the government hospitals, as private laboratories charge thousands of rupees for the test, which is out of their reach. People told this correspondent that only HFH has the MRI machine, which most of the time remains non-functional due to unknown reasons. Hence the patients are forced to consult private hospitals for the necessary MRI tests.
Private hospitals are charging around Rs 6000 (without contrast) and Rs 10000 (with contrast) for MRI test which common man can not afford. Doctors prescribe this expensive test only to critical patients. The technician hired to operate this machine should be highly qualified like doctors. The MRI test also has its side effects, particularly for the diabetic patients. The situation is not improving as most of the private hospitals are being run by the public sector doctors or their relatives, and they do not want to equip government hospitals with the required machinery, which is source of huge earning, said Jamil Awan, a patient attendant. He urged the provincial government to immediately take notice of the situation and install MRI machines at all the big government hospitals.
Patients complained that the provincial government has established the hospitals for providing free of cost health facilities to marginalised segment of society, but in the absence of proper treatment in public sector hospitals they have to go to private hospitals.
Patients of district Rawalpindi are usually referred to these three public sector hospitals from far off distanct areas like Gujar Khan, Rawat, Attock, Taxila, Murree and other cities and towns of Rawalpindi. Almost 10 million people are dependent on these three provincial government hospitals. In this situation, only one MRI machine is not enough for the patients.
Faisal, a private firm worker, said that his sister had backbone injury when he took her for MRI test in HFH, the technicians of the machine replied that it was out of order and MRI test could not be carried out. He had to take his sister to a private hospital for MRI test where he had to pay Rs 7000 for the test. He said that usually ambulance is not available to take the patient from one to the other two government hospitals (BBH) and (DHH) for MRI test. He said: "I cannot afford this huge amount for MRI", and he had to arrange money by taking loan, whereas government hospitals are established to provide people free medical services. MRI machine is an advanced form of computerised axial tomography (CT) scan machine, which usually is used for patients who need critical examination of body muscles or backbone.