A broken MRI machine at the Nelson Mandela Academic Hospital in Mthatha, Eastern Cape, has resulted in patients waiting more than six months for vital scans, many of them trying to survive on painkillers until it can be fixed, and worrying that their injuries may worsen.
The hospital – which the Health Department says is the most litigated facility, to the tune of some R3bn annually – not only services residents in its immediate surroundings but also those who have been referred from more than 20 hospitals across the province.
It has only the one machine.
One patient, who was in an accident earlier this year that injured her spinal cord, told News24 she was referred to the hospital for a scan after surgery at the Bedford Provincial Hospital.
“I had returned to that hospital a few weeks after the operation because my back was excruciatingly painful, and was referred to Nelson Mandela Academic Hospital for the MRI scan. But I was told the machine had broken down in December, and that I would be added to the waiting list of patients referred to a hospital in East London,” she said.
This would mean a three-hour journey for a scan.
Another patient has been waiting for an MRI scan for six months.
“If I had money, I would go to other provinces just to get the scan the doctors need to operate on my back. The pain has changed my life. I cannot do anything on my own. It can’t be normal that I have to survive on painkillers.”
Health Department spokesperson Sizwe Kupelo said a repair contractor had already been appointed and had been on-site already.
“The required magnet, which was on the back order for the machine, is expected to be on-site by next week. Stripping of the scanner has already begun,” he said.
News24 article – This Eastern Cape hospital has only one MRI machine – and it’s broken (Open access)
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