Hyderabad: Niloufer bereft of MRI facility; patients have a harrowing time

Hyderabad: Patients coming to the State's major women and children care facility, Niloufer Hospital, for Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scan are having a tough time as the hospital does not have equipment or machines for conducting MRI.

Resultantly, they are being referred to MNJ Cancer Hospital, which has the equipment. Doctors at Niloufer refer patients to MNJ for appointment and registration for MRI.

Many women and children with serious health issues, most of them emergency, are being left on ICU beds waiting for their turn to come. At MNJ, located opposite Niloufer, patients are forced to wait for months as the staff does not conduct MRI for less than six months. In some cases, patients are also forced to shell out Rs 3,000 for test. According to doctors, MRI scans are done to look at organs and structures inside the body and to diagnose a variety of conditions.

The MRI helps a doctor diagnose a disease or injury and take up proper treatment. On condition of anonymity, a doctor at Niloufer Hospital said, "There is no MRI in Niloufer, MNJ people are not doing easily for less than six months."

Since poor patients from districts and villages visit Niloufer, doctors said there is an urgent need to address the issue. Sources in the hospital say some patients are forced to spend money at private hospitals; MRI scans in private hospitals cost around Rs 10,000.

"The hospital is running short of doctors and medical staff, including nurses. This has led to negligence in services," said the sources. Recently, there were many deaths of children in Niloufer that sparked a protest by families alleging negligence of doctors and staff.