Broken machine tests the mettle of KNH medics
What you need to know:
For services that cannot be performed by the available machine, or if it is fully booked, patients are referred to the nearest private facilities, which are costly.
A number of patients seeking various services at the country’s largest referral hospital have been turned away.
On average, MRI scan costs between Sh16,000 to Sh33,000. At KNH, it costs Sh15,000.
Doctors at Kenyatta National Hospital are having serious difficulties diagnosing illnesses and treating patients after a key machine broke down three months ago.
The country’s largest public referral facility has not had a functioning magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machine and is relying on Computed Tomography Scan (CT scan) equipment to perform most of its functions.
For services that cannot be performed by the available machine, or if it is fully booked, patients are referred to the nearest private facilities, which are costly.
A number of patients seeking various services at the country’s largest referral hospital have been turned away.
On average, MRI scan costs between Sh16,000 to Sh33,000. At KNH, it costs Sh15,000.
COSTLY FACILITIES
Mr Rodgers Otieno had a boil in the mouth. Before the operation could be conducted, he needed a scan to show the extent of the problem.
He had struggled to raise Sh15,000 as instructed by a doctor but when he went to the hospital last week, he was referred to a private facility that was charging Sh35,000 for the process.
“The government should equip public facilities for people like us, I don’t have an insurance card or that amount. I am so much in pain. For how long will I wait?”
According to a doctor who sought anonymity, medics at the facilities have been using a CT scan machine as an alternative way of detecting and treating patients with different ailments.
Rodgers has no option but to look for money and seek the treatment in costly private facilities before the problem gets worse.
ABNORMAL TISSUES
“The CT Scan results are as good as those of MRI, only that the latter machine is more advanced and can detect internal problems that the CT scan might be unable to,” said the medic.
At the facility, MRI goes for Sh15,000 while CT Scan is priced at Sh8,000.
Unlike CT scans, which use X-rays, MRI scans use powerful magnetic fields and radio frequency pulses to produce detailed pictures of organs, soft tissues, bone and other internal body structures.
Differences between normal and abnormal tissues are often clearer on MRI images than on CT ones.
The medic said there was a tender to buy a new machine, but the process was stalled by a case in court.
DETAILED PICTURES
“We had tendered and even awarded but those who did not qualify took us to court. We are still waiting and that’s why our patients are suffering. Otherwise the process would have been completed by now and we would be having a new machine,” said the medic.
The Nation looked at the differences between the two machines, and when one can be used instead of the other.
CT scans utilise X-rays to form images inside the body while MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) use powerful magnetic fields and radio frequency pulses to produce detailed pictures of organs and other internal body structures.
“When suffering from internal bleeding or tumours, or for victims of road accidents, it is better to go for an MRI than a CT Scan, since it is able to give detailed information.
ORGAN PROBLEMS
MRI may also be done to provide more information on a problem seen on an X-ray, ultrasound scan, or CT scan.
MRI can probe the brain for tumours, bleeding, nerve injury, and other problems such as damage caused by stroke.
It can identify problems in organs and structures of the belly, such as liver, gallbladder, pancreas, kidneys, and bladder. It is used to probe for tumours, bleeding, infection and blockage. In women, it can look at the uterus and the ovaries; and in men, at the prostate.
It can also be used to tell if a bone is broken.
