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Health Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva who visited the CT Scanning room at the Colombo National Hospital yesterday, to inquire about a break down of the scanning machine, was told that it hadn’t been programmed correctly.
His visit followed of media reports critical of the Health Ministry for the breakdown of one of the CT scanning machines at the National Hospital causing a backlog of patients who needed scans for diagnosis.
The spokesman for the Health Ministry said yesterday (11) the Toshiba Activision 16 scanner had not been programmed properly. All its applications had not been entered by the company from which the Ministry purchased it. The CT scanner can scan over 100 to 150 patients per day but its programming enables it to cover only around 16 patients.
The scanner cost Rs. 40 million and only two government hospitals, the Colombo National Hospital and Kandy Teaching Hospital have been provided with this high tech equipment.
The scanner at the National Hospital earlier was a one-piece scanner (able to scan one part of the human anatomy) while the new one is a 16-piece scanner.
The present high tech "Toshiba Activision 16," has the capacity to carry out over hundred CT scans per day working 24 hours daily. However the present situation allows the machine to function from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. only. An annoyed Minister ordered the concerned company to ensure that the scanner is programmed properly within two days.
