A day after 32-year-old’s death, Mumbai’s Nair hospital shuts MRI unit

Lalbaug resident Rajesh Maru died in the magnetic resonance imaging machine (MRI) scan room while helping a relative get a scan done.

After a 32-year-old man’s death on Saturday, the BYL Nair Hospital in Mumbai Central shut down its MRI unit on Monday, forcing patients to travel to other government-run diagnostic centres or pay double the cost at private facilities.

Lalbaug resident Rajesh Maru died in the magnetic resonance imaging machine (MRI) scan room while helping a relative get a scan done. (FILE)

Lalbaug resident Rajesh Maru died in the magnetic resonance imaging machine (MRI) scan room while helping a relative get a scan done. Three, including a doctor from the hospital, have been arrested for negligence.

“The MRI machine will be functional only after four to five days,” officials said.

On Monday, most patients were referred to Lokmanya Tilak Municipal General Hospital in Sion and KEM Hospital in Parel to get MRI scans. These hospitals in turn asked them to visit government facilities in Govandi and Borivli, said patients. “Only those who are currently admitted can get MRI scans done; the rest will get an appointment in August. If you don’t want to take the appointment, please visit Shatabdi Hospital, Govandi or Bhagwati Hospital, Borivli,” said doctors in charge of the diagnostic centre at KEM Hospital, addressing the large group of patients waiting for the scans.

Dr Avinash Supe, dean of KEM Hospital and director, medical education, BMC, said, “We conduct 15-20 MRI scans every day and the appointments at times are taken six months in advance. It’s only a matter of four five days, after which the Nair hospital facility will be back in service.”

None of the patients visited Shatabdi or Bhagwati hospitals for MRI facilities. “Our technicians got a lot of calls, but we didn’t get patients from Nair Hospital,” said Dr Rajashree Jadhav, medical superintendent of Shatabdi Hospital, Govandi.