HYDERABAD: The vital MRI, CT Scan and dialysis machines, as well as many air conditioners, at the Liaquat University Hospital (LUH) need urgent repairs but the administration appears helpless for want of required funds.
The ultimate suffers are the several thousand patients coming to this paramount health facility in Sindh from many districts, besides Hyderabad and Jamshoro, of the province.
No SNE (scheduled new expenditure) for the procurement of machinery and equipment has been approved after 2021, according to LUH administration sources.
Out of four MRI machines at the hospital, the warranty of three has expired.
One MRI machine at LUH Jamshoro and another one at its city branch are facing coils issue, thus not working up to their full capacity.
CT Scan machines
Out of five CT Scan machines, one is working in the casualty department and two in the city branch’s radiology department. Their warranty period has expired. One with warranty and the other with expired warranty were installed in LUH Jamshoro hospital but only one of them is in working order. “Yet another one (new) is yet to be installed in the hospital as well,” said a source.
In all, three MRI and four CT Scan machines as well as 50 ventilators lack warranty coverage. One of the MRIs needed immediate replacement while procurement of more CT Scan machines is required to cater to the needs poor patients seeking these tests.
Heavy burden of patients
“A substantial number of these patients is of those who receive treatment at some other health facilities but come to the LUH to get these expensive tests done at nominal charges,” said a doctor, pointing out that the MRI and CT Scan tests at the LUH are done for Rs1,000 to Rs2,000 when compared with Rs8,000 to Rs15,000 charged at private facilities.
One doctor working at a private MRI facility told Dawn that the ‘MRI plain’ test is done for Rs10,000 to Rs12,000 and ‘MRI contrast’ for Rs22,000 to Rs25,000.
The same MRI plain and contrast is done at the LUH for Rs1,000 to Rs3,500.
“While indoor patients don’t pay for MRI/CT Scan tests, it is outdoor patients who approach the hospital management through different “connections” like politicians, media personnel, government officers, law enforcers etc for free of cost MRI and CT Scan tests,” said a source.
Dialysis machines
Likewise, 36 dialysis machineries have outlived their utility. Against 35,000 operational hours recommended for each machine, they are operating beyond 40,000 hours.
“Since the dialysis machines are losing efficiency, patients are being advised regular intervals in the procedure, causing unnecessary stress on them,” said a doctor. He revealed that vendors often threaten to stop undertaking repairs unless their dues were cleared. But, he added, the vendors have somehow been persuaded not to stop their services.
Airconditioners dysfunctional
LUH’s Assistant Medical Superintendent Dr Faizan Memon said that since 2021, no new airconditioning units had been approved with the result that 50pc of the ACs in the health facilties had been lying dysfunctional.
He said that the overall airconditioning system needed maintenance as well.
LUH budget
In the 2023-24 budget, the LUH had an allocation of Rs78.12m under machinery the head of repair and maintenance. After utilising it, the administration had demanded another Rs100m which was released taking the total amount to Rs178.129m. Still, Rs20m is yet to be paid to vendors.
According to an LUH official, the hospital gets Rs80m under the head of ‘repair and maintenance’. “Right now, it needs around Rs500m for the repair of those machines whose warranties have expired,” he said.
Giving an example, he said that only one X-ray tube of a CT Scan machine installed in the radiology department of LUH’s city branch involves an expenditure of Rs49m. “This tube was replaced by the vendor concerned with precondition that if payment was not made by June 15, the tube would be taken away,” confided a doctor.
“The health department has not approved SNEs for machinery since 2021,” he said.
Published in Dawn, March 24th, 2025