Tiruvallur GH condition ‘critical’, urgent need for MRI scan facility

Doctors at the government hospital could not begin treatment immediately as the patients had to undergo an MRI scan to assess the degree of the injury. “As there is no MRI scan facility at the hospital, we refer such cases to the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital in Chennai,” said a doctor at the Tiruvallur GH.

But this is not a stray case. A number of accident cases admitted to Tiruvallur GH after initial treatment are mostly referred to hospitals in Chennai. 

With at least two national highways and a dozen state highways crisscrossing the district, every day at least half a dozen persons, critically injured, are being referred to Chennai hospitals owing to the absence of an MRI facility at Tiruvallur GH. 

According to Dr Dayalan, Joint Director (Health), Tiruvallur district, the establishment of an MRI scan centre at the district’s government hospital was a long pending demand. “We are in the process of setting up a centre and it will be inaugurated soon,” he assured. 

Meanwhile, a relative of an accident victim shared, “It takes over an hour for patients to reach Chennai from Tiruvallur and each minute counts when the patient is critical.” Though the Tiruvallur Government Hospital receives a number of accident cases, sources alleged that it does not have neurologists to attend to patients. “If this is the situation in a district headquarters hospital just 50 km away from Chennai, one can imagine the plight of hospitals in other far away and remote districts,” one of the doctors opined on condition of anonymity. 

According to health department officials, MRI scan facilities are available only in 17 of the 31 district hospitals. “However, efforts are on to open MRI centres in five districts.” Speaking to DT Next, Dr Umanath, MD of Tamil Nadu Medical Services Corporation (TNMSC), said that the State government was making efforts to install MRI scan facilities in all 31 district headquarters hospitals and the medical college hospitals across the State. 

In the absence of MRI scans in the district hospitals, patients are referred to the nearest government hospital and medical colleges.