The resumption of Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) services at the National Referral Hospital will be further delayed by a month. The service was expected to resume by June.
Since October last year, the hospital has not been able to provide the services with the upgrading process of the country’s only MRI machine. The scanner has been in use for about 12 years and high-end medical equipment have a lifespan of about five to eight years.
“We have completed the installation and its ready for use but then we had a small technical error. As per the protocol we have to carry out calibration after installation. While doing the calibration we realised that there is some technical error inside the machine which our manufacturer from India could not resolve. So we are waiting for higher expertise from the US. We had also requested a specialised tool to rectify the problem which is only available in the US. Once the error is rectified, then the machine will be fully functional,” Prabha Katel, the head of Biomedical Engineering Services, said,
The service is expected to resume from next month. Until then patients who require urgent MRI are referred to Siliguri, India.
MRI is a safe, painless test that uses radio waves and energy from strong magnets to create detailed images of a body.
