person undergoing mriImage Credit source: Getty images

Patients coming to Delhi AIIMS have to wait for a long time to get tests like MRI and CT scan done. This problem is expected to go away soon. Now soon patients will be able to get their tests done in private labs at a much cheaper rate. For this, labs falling within a radius of 10 kilometers around AIIMS will be included. This is being done under PPP model. The special thing is that patients will not have to pay money in private labs. The fees decided by AIIMS will be deposited in AIIMS itself. At present, preparations are being made to start this facility for the patients coming to OPD.

AIIMS According to the administration, all the labs that AIIMS will include in its panel will be accredited by the National Accreditation Board for Hospital and Healthcare Providers (NABH). At present the contract with the private lab will be for two years. Which will be increased later. In all the labs where patients will be tested, the same protocols and rules of testing will be followed which are done in the lab of AIIMS Delhi. A list of patients coming to AIIMS OPD who need MRI and CT scan will be prepared and sent to the lab. Then patients will be able to go there and get tested as per their number.

The aim is to reduce waiting

In Delhi AIIMS, about 14 to 15 thousand patients come to OPD of different departments every day. Many of these patients require MRI and CT scans. But due to the large number of patients, the waiting time in AIIMS remains long. To overcome this, the work of running a 24-hour lab was started in AIIMS in the year 2022. But even after that, no significant success has been achieved in reducing waiting. In such a situation, the AIIMS administration has now decided to conduct tests in private labs at cheaper prices. This facility is expected to start soon. This will go a long way in reducing the waiting time considerably.

Waiting period ranges from 6 months to a year

AIIMS Delhi has 10 MRI and 10 CT scan machines. But the number of patients undergoing testing is in thousands. Due to this, there is a waiting period of a year for MRI and up to 6 months for CT scan, although in the last few years, the waiting time has reduced in most of the cases, but the AIIMS administration is continuously working towards reducing it further.