Own Correspondent: MRI and brachytherapy machines have been lying idle for about 10 months in CMC Hospital. Due to complications with the CMC with the contractor, the MRI machine is lying idle. And there are procurement complications with brachytherapy machines. The hospital authorities say that several letters have been sent indicating the location of the machines, but no progress is being made. The patients are suffering due to the shutdown of the two machines. No other government hospital in Chittagong has the service of these two machines. As the tests are very expensive, it is not possible for many to get them done at private institutes.
MRI and brachytherapy machines have been lying idle in CMC Hospital for the last 10 months. Last year, 2016, the machine was bought for 12 lakh 30 thousand dollars, which is 9 crore 84 lakh in Bangladeshi currency. The MRI machine was installed in the radiology department on August 16, 2017. The warranty period for the machine was three years. As a result, the warranty expired on August 15, 2020. When the hospital authorities informed the supplier company, Meditel Private Limited, to repair the machine, they sent a demand letter for Tk. 950,000 for the repair. Later, the Meditel company repaired the machine. On February 4, 2021, a second letter was sent to the supplier to do CMC for uninterrupted service. On March 9, 2021, the supplier claimed $1,10,000 for one year’s CMC, which is Tk 9,350,000 in Bangladeshi currency.
The supplier says that the CMC (Comprehensive Maintenance Contract) should be done for one year first. Then they will undertake the repair. If you want to do CMC, you have to pay Rs. 9 lakh per month for CMC. A fee of 3000 rupees is charged to the patient for an MRI in a government hospital. As a result, it is very expensive to do CMC at the cost of so much money.
Brigadier General Mohammad Shamim Ahsan, director of CMC Hospital, said, “We are talking with the higher authorities about the repair process of the machines. Due to complications with CMC, the repair work is stuck.
Since June 14, 2022, the brachytherapy machine in the radiotherapy department has been rendered inoperable.It is used to treat cervical cancer in women. Later, the hospital authority’s own engineers tried to start the machine, but it was not possible due to the non-availability of machine parts. The company supplying the machine is informed in this regard. In response, the company said that five machines were bought together from Germany. 30 percent of the three machines have not yet been paid. If the money is not paid, the supplier said that it is not possible to provide warranty service and medical physicist support for the machines. As a result, the machine is now idle. There is no brachytherapy machine anywhere in Chittagong, public or private. Uterine cancer patients are in extreme trouble. One and a half thousand rupees is the cost of a therapy in a government hospital. Therapy should be given three times in a row. Private costs are several times higher.
The MRI machine in Chittagong General Hospital has been lying in a broken state for the last one and a half years. The MRI machine was installed last year, in 2015, but a case is pending in court for alleged corruption related to the purchase of the machine. Hospital supervisor Dr. Sheikh Fazle Rabbi said because there is a case related to the purchase of the machine, the repair initiative cannot be taken.
The concerned doctors said that these machines are also bought in private hospitals. But there is no problem with their service. All the problems in the government hospital machines Private companies buy machines with 10- to 12-year warranties. But government hospital machines have a warranty of three to four years. As a result, patients are being denied treatment for these expensive machines due to poor contracts in the procurement process.
