4 key civic hospitals get MRI machines

MUMBAI: After a prolonged delay, four major civic hospitals – Sion, KEM, Cooper and Nair -- run by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) received four Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) machines on Friday

MUMBAI: After a prolonged delay, four major civic hospitals – Sion, KEM, Cooper and Nair -- run by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) received four Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) machines on Friday. The delay was caused due to multiple factors, including several rounds of tendering by the BMC.

Eight rounds of tendering were done due to lack of multiple bids, with Siemens often emerging as the sole bidder. As a result of the delay, patients have had to wait for months for tests at these hospitals.

The machines, which are currently being installed at the hospitals, are expected to be operational between a few days to three months.

So far, MRI facilities at the civic hospitals have run on partial capacity forcing dependency on allied private facilities. In fact, Nair Hospital, which has an 1800-bed capacity, was functioning without an MRI facility for almost three years after its machine stopped working in 2023. Patients at the hospitals are currently referred to private centers around the hospital for tests at BMC rates.

Sion Hospital, with a 1900-bed capacity, on the other hand, has been operating with one MRI machine for over a decade. “Currently, the hospital’s MRI machine is used to conduct around 20 tests daily, with an average wait period of about 20 days. We have an MRI machine at our allied-facility at the Chhota Sion Hospital, where we refer our patients for urgent cases,” Sion Hospital dean Dr Pramod Ingale told HT.