PESHAWAR, Feb 25: The NWFP government has approved installation of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanners in four districts of the province.

Project director Professor Inayat Shah Roghani said that the federal government had allocated Rs216 million for the installation of two MRI scanners at the district level hospitals, adding that tenders had already been floated for the purchase of scanners.

“We are ready to instal these two scanners at the District Headquarters Hospital, Bannu, and Saidu Group of Hospital in March,” he added.

Dr Roghani, who is also head of the radiology department of the Khyber Teaching Hospital (KTH), said currently the province had two MRI scanners, one at the KTH and the other at Hayatabad Medical Complex (HMC), but they were not enough to cater to the needs of patients.

He said that efforts were afoot to make the facility available at more hospitals to provide immediate diagnostic services to the patients and at the same time minimise the burden of patients at city’s hospitals.