Panchkula: General Hospital to get MRI centre soon

The facility is a public-private partnership project with a contract awarded to Manipal Education and Medical Group. The contractor will set up the MRI machine and its operation will be outsourced. The hospital will provide space and power supply to the facility.

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“The work is in progress. The machines have been brought to the hospital, and are being set up by the contractors. Since setting up of the machine is complicated, it will take some time. We hope to launch it by September,” said Dr V K Bansal, civil surgeon.

The hospital currently provides for X-Ray, CT Scan and Ultrasound facilities. Patients requiring an MRI scan have to either visit the government hospitals in Chandigarh, or private laboratories and diagnostic centres in the Tricity, which were expensive.

Talking to Chandigarh Newsline, Dr Bansal said, “The X-Ray is free, but a nominal fee is charged for a CT Scan, but it is free for patients having the Below Poverty Line (BPL) cards. The charges for the MRI will be announced after a final approval from the Director General Health Services (DGHS), but it will definitely be cheaper than that of other private laboratories and diagnostic centres, depending on the type of MRI.”

Panchkula hospital is among the five government hospitals that are in the process of an upgrade to their facilities.

According to hospital authorities, the latest and most-advanced version of MRI and CT Scan machines are being procured. “We expect to be able to cater to around 10 patients a day in the MRI Centre, but as the work load increases, upgradation will be considered,” said Dr Bansal.

The hospital had recently become the first hospital in the state to provide e-registration facilities, wherein registration slips of patients, medical history, medicines, treatment and test reports were made available online. Patients are given one Unique ID number in which their Electronic Health Record (EHR) are kept.

The new system allows patients to get treatment in any other hospital of the state without carrying his/her documents, as the medical records are available online.