Daily Times

Caretaker Minister for National Health Services Regulation (NHS) took the notice of unnecessary delay in installation of only Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) machine at (PIMS) and also issued show-cause notice to authorities concerned against “fake publicity” of said machine installation.

According to the available information with Daily Times, the NHS Minister Dr Nadeem Jan issued show-cause notice to authorities concerned at PIMS and sought explanation against such laxities.

“I took strict notice of the matter as we are here to serve the public. Any kind of carelessness will not be tolerated at any cost. All such practices are unjust,” Dr Jan conformed to this scribe, adding that this was only an MRI machine at the hospital was need-of- hour and supposed to facilitate thousands of patients visiting hospital for their treatment.

He committed that it was among his best priorities to streamline the health system. “Regardless any biases or any kind of personal benefit purpose, it is among my priorities to lay such foundations that could lead to the best health system in the country,” he said, adding that the country needs long-term initiatives to boost up the health sector.

Later last month, the Minister Dr Jan paid a snap visit to PIMS and took notice of the dysfunctional machinery at PIMS. He directed the relevant authorities to submit a report within 24 hours.

According to the available information, after a few days of this development, the relevant officials at PIMS Radiology department issued “fake-news” to some sections of press that a state-of-the-art machine has been functional immediately and started giving treatment to the patients.

However, when the health Minister, through his representatives, checked the hospital there was no on-ground functioning of the machine which, according to the sources, perturbed the minister and he sought explanation of such deceiving act.

The MRI machine at PIMS has been lying out of order for the last many years when its lone machine went dysfunctional and the administration miserably failed to purchase a new one which caused a large suffering of the patients. The failure forced patients to pay heavy fees to get these tests privately which charge them manifoldly. There has been no option but to pay Rs10, 000 to Rs25, 000 for simple MRI scans to private laboratories. The PIMS was the largest hospital in the federal capital which caters to 12,000 to 15,000 patients daily.

Patients from across the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Gilgit-Baltistan, Rawalpindi, and Sargodha Division with serious illnesses are being referred to big hospitals of twin cities but owing to the non-availability of MRI machines made them disappoint.

After long efforts, the government managed to get an MRI machine for PIMS from Germany. And German supplier Siemens was supposed to install that MRI machine by September 6. It will start functioning subsequently by installation.

Earlier, Dr Ayesha Esani, Head of the PIMS Radiology Department said in a statement that “with the installation of the new machine, the facility will now be available free-of-cost to poor patients while others will also be able to avail the MRI services on subsidized rates.”