NAWABSHAH, April 13 The Nawabshah Medical College Hospital is referring most of the seriously injured and critical patients to Karachi and Hyderabad because its CT scanner has been out of order for one week.

The hospital is referring emergency cases of accidents, neurosurgery, surgery and general wards to Hyderabad and Karachi for the tests as the CT scanner installed at the hospital in 1997 has stopped functioning due to a technical fault.

Medical Superintendent Professor Dr Gulshan Ali Memon told Dawn that the functioning of the scanner was affected due to overload. He said that normally there were 15 to 20 cases of CT scan daily which had now increased to 80 to 100.

He said that the hospital had a maintenance agreement with a company and the matter had been reported to them. A senior doctor on request of anonymity said that the hospital was receiving 10 to 15 CT scan cases daily, most of them of serious patients. He could not reach a definite diagnosis without a CT scan and was forced to refer his patients to other cities, he said.

He said that most of the patients who reached the hospital in critical condition had to be taken to Hyderabad for CT scan tests. It wasted precious time which could be crucial in most cases, he said.

Prof Dr Ishaq Channar, in-charge, radiology department, said that there was a problem with automatic flat panel of the patient coach and hopefully it would be replaced by Monday and then the machine would become functional again.

Source said that another CT scanner and a MRI machine were supposed to arrive in the hospital months back but the supply was stopped by the Sindh health department due to unknown reasons.

The hospital covers patients from Nawabshah, Naushahro Feroze and Sanghar districts.