THE CT Scan machine at the adult section of the University Teaching Hospital (UTH) in Lusaka has been broken down for more than six months now.
CT scans produce detailed images of many structures inside the body, including the internal organs, blood vessels and bones.They can be used to: diagnose conditions – including damage to bones, injuries to internal organs, problems with blood flow, stroke, and cancer.
Some doctors at the UTH complained to #Kalemba that the hospital’s CT Scan had been down for a long time and that they had send patients requiring the services to the Cancer Diseases Hospital (CDH).
The doctors who sought anonymity because they are not permitted to speak to the media said the broken down CT Scan presented a challenge in effective diagnosis and provision of health care.
According to reports, some patients have to wait several weeks to have a scan at the UTH.
When contacted for a comment, UTH director Clinical Care and Diagnostic Services and Chief Superintendent Dr Alex Makupe said the CT scan at the at the adult hospital “had been giving us a challenge for a couple of months now”.
Dr Makupe said the problems of the CT Scan had been compounded by the COVID-19 pandemic.
He explained that when the machine broke down the consultants who were supposed to work on it were from South Africa but could not come in because of the COVID-19 situation in that country.
“So we are hoping that the situation can improve in terms of COVID-19 so that the experts can come down and fix our CT Scan under the adult hospital,” he said.
Dr Makupe also revealed that government had secured a new CT Scan machine which would be installed once the works under the emergency hospital around April this year.
He said by June this year, there will be three CT scans within the UTH which will bring the number of CT scans in Lusaka to five including the one at the Levy Mwanawasa University Teaching Hospital and the one at the Cardiac Hospital.
Dr Makupe said government had invested in the purchase of health equipment.
©Kalemba January 20, 2021
