By Our Staff Reporter
LAHORE, October 17: All the three City Scan (CT scan) machines at Lahore’s Services Hospital have gone out of order, causing severe inconvenience to hundreds of patients who rely on the public facility for affordable diagnostic services.
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According to hospital sources, the breakdown of the CT scan machines has persisted for several days, severely affecting patient care in one of the city’s busiest government hospitals. Those requiring urgent scans, especially head injury victims, accident patients, and those with neurological or abdominal complications, are being forced to seek services from private laboratories, where the cost of a single scan ranges between Rs 8,000 and Rs 15,000.
Long queues of distressed patients and attendants could be seen outside the hospital’s diagnostic section on Thursday. “Doctors have advised a CT scan for my father after a fall, but the staff told us the machine isn’t working,” said Muhammad Shahid, an attendant from Sheikhupura. “We cannot afford private testing. It’s heartbreaking that a major hospital like Services cannot even provide basic diagnostic facilities.”
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When The Tribune International team visited the radiology department to verify the situation, MS Dr Abid Mehmood Ghori, the head of the concerned department, was not available for comments. However, his assistant Awais claimed that the issue was minor. “Sometimes minor errors occur in the machine,” he said. “Overall, the machines are okay.”
Contrary to his statement, hospital staff and technicians confirmed that the machines had been completely non-functional for several days. “The issue is not minor,” said a senior technician requesting anonymity. “Three machines have developed technical faults, and maintenance requests have been sent to the health department, but there has been no response yet.”
Healthcare activists have criticized the administration for what they called “criminal negligence.” They warned that delays in CT scans can lead to life-threatening complications for trauma and stroke patients.
Despite repeated complaints, no official notification has been issued by the Services Hospital administration or the Punjab Health Department regarding the repair timeline.
The continued breakdown has not only exposed patients to mental and financial stress but also raised serious questions about the hospital’s management and the government’s healthcare priorities.
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