Gandhinagar, Mar 25 (IANS): Government health care facilities in 18 of Gujarat's 33 districts lack CT Scan and MRI machines, the state Assembly was informed on Wednesday.

Making the admission in response to a series of questions by Congress members regarding availability and functionality of CT Scan and MRI machines in the government-run hospitals in districts, Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel, who also holds the Health portfolio, said that 28 government-run hospitals do not have CT Scan machines or they are not operational.

He said government health facilities in 18 districts do not have the machines, and in the last two years, only one CT Scan machine was purchased in Vadodara.

Patel, however, said that in the districts which do not have the machines in the government hospitals, the government has inked MOUs with local private hospitals/ clinics which are providing free services to the government hospital patients, and are later reimbursed by the government.

As Jamjodhpur MLA Chirag Kalaria alleged that there is one CT Scan machine in the GG Hospital of Jamnagar but it has never been used, Patel said that there was no technical staff available to operate it.

He also said that during the Covid-19 pandemic, the government realised that the hospitals were falling short of radiologists, as applicants were far lesser than the number of vacancies.

The Congress alleged that there are only 5 MRI machines and 16 CT scan machines available in government clinics or hospitals, and a majority of them are non-functional, forcing poor people to approach private hospitals during times like the Covid-19 pandemic when a CT scan is imperative.