Now, Sanjay Gandhi hospital to have MRI scan centre

After 35 years since its establishment, the Sanjay Gandhi Institute of Trauma and Orthopaedics (SGITO) will finally get its own Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan machine, set to be inaugurated on Thursday.

The hospital that mainly caters to accidents victims, including those with bone-related issues, used to refer scanning cases to other government hospitals.

According to Dr H S Chadrashekhar, SGITO director, the patients were earlier referred to either Jayadeva or Victoria hospitals to undergo an MRI scan.

“We couldn’t refer patients to Nimhans though the hospital is located in the vicinity as there is already a long queue for scanning. The patients were either referred to government hospitals or to private MRI centres where the scanning would be done at a subsidised rate,” Dr H S Chadrashekhar said.

“The MRI scan machine is being installed on a public-private partnership model with Bhima Lifesciences Llp. The hospital receives about 250 out-patients and about 10-30 accident cases on an average day, and most of the patients require an MRI scan,” the doctor added.

The government had sanctioned Rs 4 crore in 2016-2017 to set up a modular high-tech operation theatre (OT) at the institute. This will enable the hospital to perform total knee replacement at a subsidised cost.

The institute will also be able to perform robotic surgery in the next six months as the tendering process will begin to procure the equipment. Dr Chandrashekhar said doctors were already trained to perform robotic surgeries.

A branch of the institute, a 100-bed hospital, will also be set up in Vijayapura to cater to the needs of people of North Karnataka.