Ultrasound scan facility at Chekkanurani PHC defunct for over 6 months; doctors refer patients to private scan centres

As the ultrasound scan facility at the Primary Health Centre at Chekkanurani in Madurai district remains defunct for more than six months, patients alleged that they were referred to private scan facilities in places like Tiurmangalam and Madurai city.  

Learning the need for the ultrasound scan facility at the PHC, a machine was installed at the hospital before two years.  

Tuesdays and Fridays of every week which is meant for pre-natal care would record a footfall of over 200 pregnant women from around the region. 

Due to the requirement to study the growth of the foetus, a pregnant woman would be scanned at least five times in the course of three trimesters during the pregnancy till delivery.  

As the pregnant women visiting the PHC for prenatal care would be in different stages of their pregnancy, at least 30 to 40 women would have the need to study their foetus growth, said a doctor.  

For each scan, private scanning would charge from ₹1,000 to ₹1,500. When a pregnant woman takes from four to five scans in addition to one echocardiogram, it would easily cost around ₹7,000 to ₹8,000. 

The doctor who does not want to be named said that most of the pregnant women visiting the hospital would not even know that ultrasound scanning facility was available at the hospital.  

“Doctors at the hospital particularly refer the pregnant women to a private scan facility centre located at Tirumangalam. As the scan facility is run by one of the relatives of the doctors working at the PHC, they use the opportunity to make use of the patients,” the doctor alleged.  

A pregnant woman named Nagalakshmi, who visited the hospital for the prenatal care, said that she was also referred to the private scan facility by the doctors at PHC.  

“I paid around ₹1,200 for the scan. I was not aware that a scan facility is available at the hospital. All these days, I was asked only to take scan from the private scan centre,” she added.  

Another pregnant woman, reiterating the same, said, she paid ₹1,500 for the scanning at the centre. “We were asked to scan either at the private scan centre at Tirumangalam or any other scan centre in Madurai city,” she added. 

When eligible women get around ₹18,000 assistance through Dr. Muthulakshmi Maternity Benefit Scheme, half of the amount was being spent for scanning at private scan centres, said Madurai-based health activist A. Veronica Mary.

She questioned whether it would take around more than a year to repair an ultrasound scanning machine located at an important rural hospital.  

As allegations of misusing patients for the doctor’s benefit were being raised by the patients, district-level senior officials should look into the matter and probe the issue, she said.  

The Block Medical Officer of Chekkanurani PHC refuting the allegations said that since the scanning facility was not working for six months, the patients were referred to only Government Rajaji Hospital and not to any private facilities.  

Contrasting the Block Medical Officer’s statement, P. Kumaragurubaran, Deputy Director of Health Services, said that to avert the difficulties faced by the patients in availing scanning facility at GRH after waiting for long-hours, on a good-will basis, doctors were referring patients to the nearby private scan centres.  

In addition, he said that as the PHC does not have trained personnel for using the scanning facility, it was used only for confirming pregnancy and detecting movement of unborn baby.

Regarding allegations of doctors using patients for their personal benefits, he refuted and said that it was only for the welfare of the patients that the doctors had requested the private scan centres for doing the scans at a discounted price.

Published - December 17, 2024 07:39 pm IST