Lack of CT scan at govt hospital sparks outrage

NagarKurnool: Patients in the Nagar Kurnool District Hospital are facing severe hardships during emergencies due to the unavailability of CT scan services. Even though these services have been prepared and ready for the past six months, officials have neglected to start them.

Doctors are forced to refer road accident victims to larger hospitals for immediate treatment, as the district hospital lacks the necessary CT scan facilities. The absence of timely treatment is resulting in the loss of lives for some patients.

During the previous government’s tenure, district general hospitals across the State were upgraded, and T-diagnostic centres were set up. However, after these centres were completed, the implementation of election codes halted the launch of these services in some areas, including Nagarkurnool. As a result, free healthcare services such as CT scans, which should be available to the general public, are not being provided.

The district hospital sees about 1,500 outpatients daily, with people coming from constituencies like Achampet, Kollapur, Kalwakurthi, and even distant regions seeking medical attention. However, due to the lack of services, patients are being referred to hospitals in Mahabubnagar and Hyderabad, leading to delays that sometimes prove fatal.

Moreover, many patients who are already in difficult financial situations face severe hardships because they must borrow money to pay for CT scans at private centres before bringing the results back to the hospital doctors.

An additional issue is that hospital guards and ambulance drivers often engage in unethical practices, trying to profit from commissions given by private scanning centres. They aggressively push patients toward these private centres, sometimes even causing conflicts within the hospital premises.

Despite the CT scan facilities being ready for six months, the failure to start these services is attributed to the negligence of hospital officials, according to many observers. The public is now appealing to the authorities to activate these services immediately to prevent further loss of life.