Indore (Madhya Pradesh): Case 1: Family members of a nonagenarian woman, living in Shalimar Township, had to face trouble in getting her leg’s X-ray done after she suffered an injury. Family members contacted all the diagnostic centres across the city to get her X-ray done at her place as she is bedridden and unable to walk but to no avail.
Case 2: A 72-year-old woman, a resident of the Airport area, who has been bedridden for the last six months due to paralysis, had got injured during physiotherapy. As she is overweight, the family couldn’t take her to the hospital immediately for an X-ray and no diagnostic centre was able to provide a portable X-ray facility.
These are just two representative cases but people across the state face trouble in getting their X-rays done without going to the hospital or diagnostic centres.
Even though Indore is the medical hub of the state, it doesn’t have the facility of a ‘portable’ X-ray that can be used for X-ray diagnoses of patients at their place. Moreover, the radiographer association claimed there is no such facility across the state. The facility was available with the health department in Indore but it is now dead as a dodo.
According to the president of the Radiographer Association Shivakant Vajpai, a large number of patients face trouble in the absence of a truly portable X-ray facility across the state.
“There was a portable machine with the health department till 2016 and the last X-ray at home was performed in 2012. We had also performed an X-ray of a leopard from the same machine,” he said.
Vajpai also added that a portable X-ray machine has been kept in the scrap in Government PC Sethi Hospital since 2016.
The sad part is that the machine can be used again to bring relief to the patients but health department officials seem to have completely forgotten about the machine.
Radiation exposure is hurdle: Dr Sodani
Senior radiologist Dr RK Sodani said that there is no portable X-ray facility across the state. Many hospitals have this facility for their in-house patients but no facility is available to perform X-rays at home. “Exposure to radiation and the bulk and weight of such machines are the major hurdles for using these machines as a truly portable facility,” he added.
Radiographers taking X-ray of a woman at her place. Photo of 2012 | FP Photo
Machine is of World War II vintage
Vajpai said that the health department had got one portable X-ray machine from Army Hospital, Mhow many years ago. “When I was transferred from Mhow to PC Sethi Hospital, I brought the machine to Indore. It was used a couple of times till 2016 but now, I am unaware of its condition,” he said adding “The machine weighs only four kilograms and was used during the Second World War for taking X-rays of injured soldiers.” Vajpai also offered his free services if the department wants to facilitate patients.
"I am unaware of the machine's location and will try to trace it": Civil Surgeon
“There was a portable machine in the department a long time ago. I am unaware of where the machine is at present. I will look for it and will take appropriate action to restart the machine", said Dr Pradeep Goyal, Civil Surgeon, Indore
