Telangana's government hospitals run 50 CT scanners but only nine MRI machines
Telangana government hospitals have nine operational MRI machines in eight institutions against 50 CT scanners in 48, the Health Department told the Legislative Council.
Telangana's government hospital network operates nine MRI machines across eight institutions, against 50 functional CT scanners spread over 48 institutions, the Health Department informed the Legislative Council on September 10.
The figures, which reflect the position as of August 31, were tabled in response to a question from MLC S. Vani Devi. She had sought district-wise details of operational MRI and CT scan machines in government hospitals, and asked whether scanning services had been disrupted by a shortage of technicians or radiologists. Her questions also covered the average waiting period for scans and the arrangements made for emergency patients referred to private diagnostic centres.
Seven of the eight institutions equipped with MRI hold one machine each: Gandhi Hospital in Secunderabad, Osmania General Hospital in Hyderabad, TIMS Sanathnagar, MNJ Cancer Hospital in Hyderabad, MGM Hospital in Warangal, RIMS Adilabad and Government General Hospital in Jayashankar Bhupalpally. NIMS Hyderabad is the only institution with two MRI machines, leaving the state's MRI capacity clustered in a small group of hospitals.
The CT network is markedly wider. Most of the 48 institutions have a single scanner, while a few hold more. NIMS and MNJ Hospital in Hyderabad each operate two CT scanners.
The installed equipment also varies in scanning capacity. Osmania General Hospital and Gandhi Hospital have 128-slice CT scanners, while most other listed institutions run 16-slice machines. NIMS has a 128-slice and a 64-slice scanner, TIMS Sanathnagar has a 128-slice unit, and MNJ Hospital operates one 128-slice and one 64-slice machine.
A slice denotes the number of two-dimensional cross-sectional images a CT scanner can capture in a single 360-degree rotation. Machines with a higher slice count carry more detector rows, allowing them to image a larger area of the body in less time and with finer detail.