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- Patients are worried their injuries could worsen while waiting for a broken MRI scan machine to be fixed.
- The Eastern Cape health department said there was only one MRI scan machine at the hospital.
- Patients told News24 they survived on painkillers.
Patients say they are trying to survive on painkillers
while they wait for a broken magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan machine to
be fixed at the Nelson Mandela Academic Hospital in Mthatha, Eastern Cape.
They are also worried their injuries may worsen.
MRI is a medical imaging technique that uses a magnetic field and computer-generated radio waves to create detailed images of the organs and tissues in one's body.
According to the Eastern Cape health department, the facility, a central hospital, did not only render services to residents in its immediate surroundings but also to those who had been referred from more than 20 hospitals across the province.
The hospital had one MRI machine, which is broken.
Last week, the department said the facility was the most litigated hospital, to the tune of R3 billion annually, placing a huge strain on the hospital and the department.
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News24 spoke to some of the patients who requested not to be identified.
A 46-year-old woman said that earlier this year, she was involved in an accident that affected her spinal cord.
"I was admitted to Bedford Provincial Hospital, where I received an operation on my back. However, I returned a few weeks after the operation because my back was excruciatingly painful. The doctors referred me to Nelson Mandela Academic Hospital for an MRI scan. I was told the machine broke down in December, and I will be added to the waiting list of patients referred to a hospital in East London," she said.
This would mean that patients had a three-hour journey to get an MRI scan.
"I am self-employed and running a catering company.
I can't lift the pots because I was told not to lift any heavy stuff. I walk
with a walking stick and survive on painkillers," she said.
Another patient, 36, said she had been waiting for an MRI scan for six months.
She said:
The department's spokesperson, Sizwe Kupelo, said a repair person had already been appointed and had been on-site last Friday.
"The required magnet, which was on the back order of the MRI scan, is expected on the port by 16 October [Monday] and will be on-site by Wednesday. Stripping of the scan has already commenced," he said.
Kupelo said the company had confirmed delivery of the required parts.
"In the meantime, patients who required an MRI scan were referred to Frere Hospital in East London. I am not aware of any patients who may have been put on the waiting list. Emergency MRI cases were done at St Mary's Private Hospital," he said.
