New CT scan machines for Manila’s hospitals

Old and defective computerized tomography (CT) scan machines at hospitals run by the Manila city government will be replaced with new ones.

The city government has acquired four machines worth P40 million to replace the old machines.

The new CT scan machines will be installed at the Gat Andres Bonifacio Memorial Medical Center, Justice Abad Santos Mother & Child Hospital, Ospital ng Maynila Medical Center and Santa Ana Hospital.

“In private hospitals, you have to pay when using CT scan or MRI machines. And it is really expensive. Here in our public hospitals, everything is free,” Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada said.

Estrada said the acquisition is part of his 10-point agenda to provide better social services to the indigent residents in the city.

The new CT scan machines will replace the six-year-old malfunctioning scanners at the Santa Ana Hospital, according to its director Dr. Jesus Sison, Jr.

Sison said the hospital has three old machines that were already malfunctioning. The replacements, Sison said, have 16-32 slice systems much preferred by doctors.

The machines can also do virtual colonoscopy (VC), a medical imaging procedure used to diagnose colon and bowel disease, including polyps, diverticulosis and cancer, he added.

“Our doctors could also do invasive diagnostic procedures using the CT scan as their guide, by inserting needles in the body and monitoring it through the CT scan, alam na nila kung ano ‘yung tinatamaan,” Sison said, explaining the procedures using the apparatus.

Last April, the city government acquired a 1117-million MRI machine for the Ospital ng Maynila on top of brand new CT scans and digital X-ray machines.

A dialysis center and an Eye Care Center at Gat Andres Bonifacio Memorial Medical Center were also put up.