Assam Health Minister Keshab Mahanta on Monday said various testing facilities such as MRI, CT scan and X-Ray will start functioning in state-run medical college and hospitals in double shifts to cater to more people.
“The number of patients in the medical colleges is very high compared to the infrastructure. So, we have decided to have double shifts from today. Earlier, testing for OPDs used to happen from 8 am to 3 pm. Now, another shift will start from 3 pm to 10 pm,” he added.
The manpower, including technicians and doctors, has already been hired for this additional workload in all the medical college and hospitals across the state, Mahanta said.
He said this doubling of shifts is for the general patients and all those coming through the OPD section.
“The testing in the emergency takes place round the clock,” Mahanta said.
The minister said the Gauhati Medical College and Hospital (GMCH) will now test at least 60 persons per day in MRI against the earlier 30-35 people, and 1,000 people in X-Ray instead of 500 at present.
“Likewise, we have also decided to double the operation theatre (OT) availability timing. Earlier, OT used to operate in one shift in the day time. Because of this, different departments used to get OT only once in a week. Now OTs will function at night too,” he said.
The minister also said that the government has allowed the hospital management societies to hire contractual staff as and when required.