RTI reveals only 9 government hospitals in Tamilnadu have MRI machines
28 Sep, 2012Information obtained in response to an application filed under the Right to Information (RTI) Act, 2005, has shown that only nine hospitals in Tamilnadu (which includes two in Chennai and one each in Coimbatore, Erode, Madurai, Thanjavur, Tiruchi, Tirunelveli and Vellore) have the facility of a MRI scan. It has also come to light that the fee for using the facility was uniformly set at Rs. 2,500/- in all the hospitals.
The facility is not available round-the-clock for the patients and is restricted to only between 9 A.M. and 6 P.M. every day. Hence, there is no possibility of using the facility in case of an emergency at awkward hours. A MRI machine costs about Rs. 5 crore and there has been a demand to install at least one machine in each district which works for round the clock and provides the facility for the poor at a concessional rate.
‘Equal Rights’, a Human Rights Organisation, has filed a public interest litigation (PIL) in the Madras High Court Bench. The petitioner has demanded a direction to the State government to provide Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scan facility at government hospitals in all district headquarters. He has further sought that the facility should be provided free of cost to the people living below poverty line.