Nima Wangdi
People in the remote areas, especially in the east and south will no longer have to travel to Mongar, Gelephu, or Thimphu for CT scan.
CT Scanners will be installed in Samtse, and Dewathang in Samdrupjongkhar.
The Ministry of Health said that two new CT scanner machines will be of the same capacity as the one at Jigme Dorji Wangchuck National Referral Hospital (JDWNRH).
This is expected to decongest patient load and wait time at the existing hospitals with CT scanner services, especially Thimphu.
As of now only JDWNRH, Central Regional Referral Hospital in Gelephu, and Eastern Regional Referral Hospital in Mongar have CT scanner services.
Officials said that the machines are being purchased from the Netherlands and the cost for the two would be around Nu 102 Million.
MoH is procuring the machines in collaboration with the World Health Organisation.
A refresher course will be organised for a few weeks to the people manning the machines. “We will do this once the infrastructure modification is completed.”
The officials said that the ministry is creating these clusters to cater to people who have to travel far to avail the service.
The cases requiring CT scan services in both the regional referral hospitals are increasing and the patients at the JDWNRH have to wait for a longer time, according to the official.
A computed tomography scan (usually abbreviated to CT scan; formerly called computed axial tomography scan or CAT scan) is a medical imaging technique used to obtain detailed internal images of the body.