Korle Bu MRI out of order

Page 47: January 24, 2008.
Story: Albert K. Salia
THE case of a Ghanaian footballer, John Paintsil, who was flown out to Nigeria for medical examination, has raised concerns over the Magnetic Resource Imaging (MRI) machine at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital which has been out of use since May last year.
Daily Graphic enquiries about the facility has revealed that the MRI at Korle-Bu became dysfunctional after power fluctuation at the hospital resulted in the burning of some key machinery and the corrosion of the MRI.
The MRI is primarily used in medical imaging to visualise the structure and function of the body. It provides detailed images of the body in any plane. It has much greater soft tissue contrast than Computed Tomography (CT), making it especially useful in neurological, musculoskeletal, cardiovascular and oncolological diseases. Unlike CT, it uses no ionising radiation.
The Head of the Radiology Department of the hospital, Dr Alex Yeboah, told the Daily Graphic that following the power fluctuation at the hospital, he requested for a stabiliser to protect the machinery.
He explained that when the MRI was inaugurated on July 27, 2005, there was no stabiliser to regulate and protect power supply to the MRI and CT Scan Centre.
He said he, accordingly, put in a request but it was not heeded to until the uninterrupted power supply (UPS) system for the CT scan machine got burnt.
Dr Yeboah said the fire from that accident engulfed the entire building, with smoke entering the central air-conditioning control room, destroying some support machines for the MRI.
Since then, he said, the MRI had been out of use, awaiting the arrival of the suppliers to repair the damaged parts.
Dr Yeboah said there was every indication that the MRI should be functioning by the end of February, adding that until then anyone who needed MRI services would have to go to Nigeria or Togo.
Meanwhile, Philips Medical Systems of The Netherlands, the company working on the re-installation of the MRI scanner, has confirmed that it should be operational by the end of February 2008.
In a correspondence dated January 11, 2008 to the chief administrator and director of administration of the hospital, the company indicated that the new MRI scanner would be released from the factory by January 18, after which the system would be transported by air to Accra.
“The delivery of an air-conditioning unit with accessories supplied by a third party company has been confirmed for February 4, after which all these parts will be forwarded to Accra by air,” it said.
That letter was in response to a reminder sent to the company by the management of the hospital to repair the MRI machine before the Ghana 2008 tournament.
“As you are well aware, the Local Organising Committee (LOC) of the Ghana 2008 soccer tournament, the Minister of Health and the Presidency are all interested in the project and keenly expect the MRI to be operational by the agreed date — January 20, 2008,” it said.
However, Philips Medical Systems, in response to the letter, explained that as the air-conditioning parts had to be installed before the installation of the MRI scanner, its activities could only start shortly after the receipt of those parts, stressing that “based on this, I would expect that your system will be up and running at the end of February”.
The letter, which was also copied to the Chief of Staff, the Minister of Health, among other persons, said although everything had been done to speed up the delivery, the dates given to it by the management of the hospital could not be met for the Ghana 2008 tournament.
The Black Stars wing back was flown to Nigeria on Tuesday night for an MRI examination after Ghana’s 2-1 victory over Guinea in the opening match of the Ghana 2008 football tournament in Accra.