KARACHI: Patients are facing grave hardships at Dr Ruth Pfau Civil Hospital Karachi (CHK) as two major diagnostic machines — CT scan and MRI — are lying out of order for several months.

A senior official at radiology department has said that a CT scan machine had developed some technical fault a few months ago and this has not been repaired yet, while the MRI machine is also lying out of order for a similar period.

The CHK is Sindh’s largest teaching hospital where scores of patients are brought every day from different areas of Karachi and the rest of Sindh, some needing diagnostic services such as CT scan and MRI. But since the major diagnostic machines are not functioning, the patients are referred to Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto Institute of Trauma and private labs for CT scan and MRI tests.

The private labs charge heavy fees for conducting diagnostic tests which are out of reach of poor patients.

An administrative official said CHK management had already approached the company concerned for early replacement of the tube of CT scan to minimize the suffering of patients. He added that the out of order MRI machine would be made functional soon.

Acting medical superintendent, CHK, Dr Noor Mohammad Soomro was not available for comments.

Published in Dawn, July 18th, 2020