13 months on, Bandipora district hospital awaits CT scan machine

Bandipora, Jan 28: The government district hospital at north Kashmir’s Bandipora district is awaiting installation of the CT scan machine that was announced by the Director, Health Services Kashmir about thirteen months ago.
An official document available, revealed that the Director, Health Services Kashmir, had requested the Medical Superintendent (MS) Bandipora to keep the space ready with regard to installation of CT scan-128 slice in the institution under languishing project 2020.
However, two years have gone by but the machine has not been installed in the district hospital, nor any machine equipment has been brought to the hospital yet.
The hospital administration said that despite their repeated requests over the last several months to the higher authorities their demands have not been met.
Doctors in the hospital, while talking to KNO on the condition of anonymity, said that due to non-installation of the CT scan machine they have to refer emergency and trauma patients to city hospital.
They said that various accident-related cases — where it is an imperative to know the extent of internal injuries — are rejected because of the lack of a CT scan machine.
An official at the hospital admitted that the installation of the machine was delayed and said that they had also chosen a place in one section at the hospital. “We also hope that a CT scan machine will be available in the hospital very soon,” he said.
Despite repeated attempts, the Director, Health Services Kashmir Dr Mushtaq Ahmad didn’t respond to repeated calls to comment on the issue.