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Santiago. The Ricardo Limardo Hospital in Puerto Plata has had a damaged CT scanner for some time due to lack of maintenance and patients who need to have images taken have to travel to Santiago or Valverde.
Meanwhile, the President Rafael Estrella Uñera Hospital, formerly the social security hospital in Santiago, is unable to provide service at night due to power problems.
Gilberto Mota went to the Estrella Ureña hospital because he is a disabled patient. However, Pastor Pablo Ureña, who accompanied him, said that when he went to have the CT scan done, he was surprised to find that the equipment was damaged.
Ureña said that patients who have Senasa insurance are referred to the oncology department for a CT scan.
The equipment allows it to be used to visualize almost all parts of the body and diagnose diseases or injuries, as well as to plan medical, surgical or radiation treatments.
Bernardo Hilario, director of the National Health Service for the provinces of Santiago, Puerto Plata and Espaillat, said that the CT scanner at the Ricardo Limardo hospital needs to undergo a maintenance process on the tube that allows the images to be seen. To put it into operation, an investment of six million pesos is required.
“These maintenance works are carried out in the United States, but we are already in the process of putting it into operation. The other CT scanners in the other hospitals are working,” said Hilario.
In the case of the Ureña flagship hospital, the director of the National Health Service explained that the problem lies in the need to increase the capacity of the electric service to four kilos, because it currently operates with 2.8 and that prevents CT scans from being carried out at night, because it increases consumption.
