Medical tests suspended at CMCH as most machines break down

Treatment seekers and their attendants have been suffering at Chattogram Medical College Hospital (CMCH), the largest government hospital under Chattogram division, as several tests including computerised tomography (CT) scan have been suspended for a long time, thanks to reluctance of the authorities concerned.

Not only the CT scan machine but also magnetic resonance imagings (MRI), Brachytherapy, Cath Lab machine and eight other machines have remained out of order.

The CT scan machine has been out of order since 4 August this month.

The patients and their relatives have to spend an excessive amount of money to undergo tests at private diagnostic centres and take much time to detect their diseases, causing an immense suffering for them.

Prof Dr Subash Chandra Majumdar, head of radiology department of the CMCH, said there are two CT scan machines in the hospital and both of them are now out of service.

One of them has been lying idle for a long time and the other went out of order on 4 August, he said.

Admitting the suffering of the patients caused by the ongoing situation, the radiology department's head said patients have to bear an extra fee to have reports against their tests conducted at privately-run hospitals.

He said it will take some days to fix the machines and they will be able to provide patients with services soon.

According to the hospital sources, the first-ever one CT scan was set up in the hospital in 2004 and it continuously served till 2014.

There had been no CT scan service from 2014 to 2018 as the machine broke down in 2014.

Later, the Health Ministry allocated a new CT scan machine in 2018 and it was put into operation in 2019. Though it broke down several times it was fixed by biomedical engineers and kept functional for the patients' services. The latest CT scan has warranty till 2026.

On 6 June this year, the CT scan also went out of order and was fixed again on 23 June and finally on 4 August it again broke down and since then it has been suspended.

Earlier, the patients could undergo several tests with the CT scan machine by paying Tk2,000 to 4,000 from 8am to 9pm every day.

But, the patients now have to pay Tk3,000 to 4,500 at private diagnostic centres against the fee of only Tk2000 and Tk 8,000 to Tk10,000 for the test that cost Tk4000 at CMCH.

Salama Begum, who is infected with cancer in uterus , said the physicians prescribed her to undergo three tests including CT scan and brachytherapy.

She was asked to undergo the CT scan and another test in Chattogram's private Evercare Hospital and the brachytherapy test in Dhaka as the CMCH's brachytherapy machine has been suspended for the past one year.

She said they only get physicians' prescriptions from the hospital but have to take medicines and undergo tests outside the hospital.

Stroke patient Rakib Hasan who hails from Chandanaish upazila of the district said he had to undergo the CT scan test at a private hospital by paying an extra amount as this service was not available in the CMCH.

Brig General Md Shamim Ahsan admitted that some machines including the CT scan one have remained broken down and hoped the patients will get their desired services soon.