Rawalpindi:The cost of CT scan, computed tomography scan, at the three allied hospitals in town has been irking the OPD patients as the facility is free of cost only for indoor patients and for those who are in emergency departments.
The three RMU allied hospitals including Holy Family Hospital (HFH), Benazir Bhutto Hospital (BBH) and Rawalpindi Teaching Hospital charge Rs2,500 for plain CT scan, involving no contrast dye, from the patients visiting their OPDs. The OPD patients at the allied hospitals in need of contrast CT scan have to purchase the contrast dye, the injection, from the open market that costs around Rs5,000 to Rs8,000.
At the allied hospitals, the facility of CT scan, often involving contrast dye for clearer results, costs an OPD patient around Rs10,000, which can be termed as too heavy a price for a diagnostic test being availed at a public sector hospital, said a top official serving at HFH.
I have been advised a CT scan with contrast at HFH and the hospital staff has asked me to bring an injection, the contrast dye, with me for the facility, said a patient Akhtar Bhatti, aged 62 while talking to ‘The News’. The price of injection is well over Rs8,000 in the open market and it is difficult for me to avail the CT scan facility at the public sector hospital even, he added.
As per the government policy, the OPD patients will have to pay fee for CT scan facility and would have to bring injection for contrast CT scan, said Dr. Akhtar Mehmood Malik, Medical Superintendent at HFH when contacted by ‘The News’ on Thursday.
MS at BBH Dr. Sharjeel Sarfraz expressed to ‘The News’ that the facility of plain and with contrast CT scan is absolutely free for indoor patients, emergency patients and those who are in intensive care but the government has imposed a fee for OPD patients for the facility which is much less than that of the cost, the private laboratories are charging.
The private set-ups charge Rs6,000 to Rs9,000 for CT scan without contrast while Rs19,000 to Rs25000 for CT scan with contrast, he said. To a query, he said the OPD patients have been paying fees for CT scans at the government hospitals for years and there has never been any proposal for making it free for them.
