Helium supply disruption hits MRI services at Wenlock Hospital in Mangaluru

The operation of the MRI centre at Wenlock District Hospital in Mangaluru has been affected due to disruption in the supply of helium, used to cool the superconducting magnets in the MRI machine, because of the ongoing US-Iran war.

This came to light at a meeting on Saturday, chaired by Health and Family Minister U.T. Khader to review projects and address issues concerning the hospital.

At the meeting, Arogya Raksha Samiti member Khaleem Gerukatte pointed out that the MRI machine, operated by Hindlabs in the hospital premises, had been affected for over a fortnight.

A representative of Hindlabs said the operation of the MRI machine had been affected because of a disruption in the supply of helium. “This machine is a 2015 model and helium is filled once every three months. Helium was last filled eight months ago,” the representative told the minister. “Presently, we are doing MRI scans only for emergency cases,” he said, adding that the helium currently in the machine would last for about a week. Against the normal 13 MRI scans, the centre was doing about six scans a day.

The representative said that Hindlabs will spend about ₹70 lakh to procure helium and restart regular operation of the machine. Other centres were using new machines, for which helium is filled once in two years. The representative also said a new MRI machine would be installed at the hospital.

Hospital Superintendent D.S. Shivaprakash said the CT and MRI centre was conducting routine MRI scans but not specialised scans, for which patients were being referred to Kasturba Medical College (KMC). A memorandum of understanding between the hospital and Hindlabs for operating the centre is valid till 2029, he said.

If the present MRI machine stops working, Mr. Khader asked Dr. Shivaprakash to work with KMC and Hindlabs and get the scans done at KMC at the rate prescribed for patients under the Ayushman Bharat-Arogya Karnataka health insurance scheme. “If the fee collected from a patient is less, then Hindlabs will have to bear the difference and patients should not be made to bear it,” Mr. Khader said. The Hindlabs representative said MRI scan charges start at around ₹2,500.

A KMC representative said patients requiring MRI and CT scans were being taken in an ambulance from the Wenlock Hospital’s new block to an imaging centre located opposite the administrative block. Dr. Shivaprakash said the hospital’s executive committee would shortly take a decision on shifting the scan centre to the new block. The committee would also decide on Hindlabs’ application seeking permission to install a new MRI machine, he said.

Talking to reporters, Mr. Khader said none of the scan centres operating in government hospital premises in the State were facing a problem like the one faced by the centre in Wenlock Hospital. The scan centres in Wenlock in Mangaluru and at Malleshwaram Government Hospital in Bengaluru started in 2017 and used old MRI machines. A new agency has taken over operation of the scan centre in Malleshwaram and replaced the old machine with a new one, he said.