Mumbai: The 126-year-old St George’s Hospital near the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus is all set to start a CT scan facility soon.
Also known as computed tomography scan, the facility is of utmost importance to detect internal damage and diseases like tumours, bleeding, and bone trauma. At St George’s, the CT scan is crucial given that it gets a large number of train accident patients due to its proximity to the station.
According to medical superintendent Dr. Madhukar Gaikwad, the CT scan machine will be functional in two weeks. “We are waiting for the final approval from the Atomic Research Regulatory Board, which should come soon,” Dr. Gaikwad said.
He said on an average, 25 patients coming to the outpatient department and in-patient department every day require CT scan. “Besides train accident victims, we get a lot of patients coming all the way from Colaba and Cuffe Parade. Till now, we had to refer such patients to JJ or GT hospital,” Dr. Gaikwad said.
The medical superintendent said the CT scan is ready, and they have already run trials to check the functioning of the machine. “We have got a 128 slice CT Scan machine at a cost of ₹7 crore,” he said.
Referring from one facility to another not only causes trauma to patients and relatives, but also leads to wastage of golden hour during emergencies. CT scans came into use in the 1970s and since then it has been an important tool for doctors in terms of diagnosis and deciding the line of treatment.
St George’s Hospital’s radiology department is currently equipped only with X-ray and sonography facilities. After the CT scan, the hospital may make efforts to get upgraded with a MRI scan.
At present, patients form lower economic background holding orange and yellow ration cards, and those covered under the State’s health insurance scheme can avail of the facility free of cost. For the rest, nominal government rates of up to ₹2,000 will be charged.
