Despite repeated pleas of poor patients, the machine has remained dysfunctional.
New Delhi: The capital’s Deen Dayal Upadhyay (DDU) Hospital, one of the biggest government hospitals of the West Delhi area that serves 5,000 patients daily, does not have a functioning CT scan machine for the last four years.
Despite repeated pleas by poor patients, the CT scan machine at the DDU Hospital has remained dysfunctional and no authority has paid any heed due to alleged apathy. Both the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Central government and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)-led Delhi government have talked about improving healthcare facilities in the country.
When Reshma, a 30-year-old patient, visited the DDU hospital for getting a head injury treated, she was told that the CT scan machine is not working and she will have to get her CT scan diagnosis done from outside the hospital or from the Ram Manohar Lohia (RML) hospital.
“I met with an accident in West Delhi’s Janakpuri area after which police took me to the DDU Hospital where I got some treatment and was asked to get a CT scan diagnosis done. A doctor asked me to go to Ram Manohar Lohia for getting the CT scan done and for that, I was told, the hospital provides an ambulance pick up and drop facility. I followed the directions and got my CT scan done. When I asked since when the CT scan machine at DDU Hospital has been dysfunctional, I was told by a doctor that the machine has not been working for the last four years,” Reshma told The Sunday Guardian.
Gaganjeet, another patient who had visited the DDU Hospital a few months back and currently is under treatment due to a leg injury, said that the CT scan machine in the hospital has not been working and like many other patients, “I too was sent to the RML hospital. I don’t know why the government is not able to provide a CT scan machine to this hospital. This creates difficulties even in dealing with medico-legal cases.”
Recently, Sunil Kumar Aledia, a social activist, filed a grievance petition with the Delhi government which reads: “Rohit, the Chief Medical Officer of DDU Hospital has confirmed that the CT scan machine has not been working for more than three years, but they are not being given any new machine which is causing great difficulty to the doctors and patients as well and for this reason, I have filed a grievance complaint with the Delhi government.”
According to Sunil Kumar, almost all government
hospitals are struggling with poor infrastructure and not having a CT scan machine at DDU Hospital, which has a daily footfall of 5,000 patients, is shocking and reveals the government’s apathy towards the poor.
As per information available with him, Delhi has 38 government hospitals, but not all of them are running perfectly. Some government hospitals have testing machines that don’t work and often offer incorrect readings.
This reporter tried to contact the chief medical officer of DDU Hospital, but he was not available to comment on the issue.