A 56-yr-old who was rushed to KEM after a truck hit her in Panvel, was asked to go to Sion Hospital since there were no technicians to operate the equipment; six patients have been sent back in the past 10 days
A crucial X-ray machine at Parel’s civic-run KEM Hospital is without assigned technicians to operate it, leading doctors to direct all patients with conditions requiring the use of the equipment to another hospital.
KEM doctors recommended that Saraswati Gaikwad, who fractured her leg, be taken to Sion Hospital if an immediate surgery was resuired as there was no one to operate the X-ray machine. File pic
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Approximately six patients in the past 10 days, who had come in to get major fractures treated, were refused admission because of this. At 11 am yesterday, Saraswati Gaikwad (56), was rushed into the facility to treat her fractured leg after a truck hit her in Panvel.
She had earlier been taken to Vashi Kamgar Hospital, where doctors recommended an immediate surgery. For this, she was brought to KEM Hospital. Doctors there, however told her to go to Sion Hospital if a surgery had to be done immediately as the hospital’s C arm X-ray machine does not have technicians to operate it.
Not their job
The machine requires two technicians, while three doctors perform the surgery. Since there were no operators, two additional doctors would be present during the surgery to run the machine.
A senior doctor said that it was not even their job to operate the equipment in the first place, but they were doing it anyway for the patient’s sake, for the past two years.
“We have limited number of doctors in a particular shift. Due to this machine, two extra doctors were being utilised for one procedure. Doctors are also worried about the harmful radiation that emanates from it as the protective suit which is meant to be worn while operating the machine is torn,” he said.
After several complaints and requests to authorities went unheard, doctors stopped operating the machine ten days ago. “We felt the authorities were not showing any interest in appointing engineers. So we stopped involving doctors in this process,” said the doctor.
Gaikwad, meanwhile, is still in KEM awaiting the results of a different X-ray procedure. Dr Tanvi Suryawanshi, from KEM Hospital’s orthopaedic department, said, “We will be doing a colour Doppler X-ray for Mrs Gaikwad to understand the nature of the wound. If the injury is deep, we will have to transfer her to Sion Hospital for immediate surgery.”
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