KARACHI, Jan 6: Hundreds of patients are facing immense problems due to delay in functioning of the upgraded radiology department of the Civil Hospital Karachi (CHK).

Civil work on the project, jointly launched by the Poor Patients Aid Society (PPAS) and the Dowiites '79 in early 2004, started in October and was completed in mid December 2004. It was inaugurated by the Adviser to Chief Minister on Health, Faisal Malik.

However, the remaining upgrading process including provision of required machinery and equipment was still in process. Officials of the department said the health adviser had inaugurated only civil work, and X-ray and some ultrasound machines were yet to be installed. "The X-ray facility in the upgraded department will be functional within a month," he said.

A temporary X-ray facility - two machines of 500 MA and one portable machine of 50 MA - was set up in the OPD area to provide uninterrupted facility to patients besides installing machines for ultrasound.

Out of the three X-ray machines, one of 500 MA power was out of order for two months, the staff told PPI on Thursday. Now, only one machine of 500 MA and a portable one of 50 MA was functioning in the temporary facility, they said.

Around 300 patients for X-ray and more than 150 patients for ultrasound visit the facility everyday. Patients coming for X-ray have to wait for hours, as there are often long queues. While appointments at the OPD for ultrasound are said to have been completely booked till Jan 17. - PPI