Darjeeling will finally have a CT scan machine, a basic modern diagnostic tool that the hill town has lacked so far.

Sources in the administration said the machine had reached Darjeeling District Hospital and was being installed.

“The machine should be in operation soon,” said a source.

Doctors admitted that computerised tomography (CT) scan is a basic diagnostic tool and it was astonishing that a district headquarters of a famed tourist spot did not have this machine till now.

“Covid-19 patients in Darjeeling had no access to CT scan facility during the first and second waves,” a doctor said.

The CT scan is used to estimate the severity of infection in lungs among Covid-19 patients.

Not only the Darjeeling district hospital, three private hospitals in Darjeeling town do not have a CT scan machine, forcing residents of Darjeeling town and adjoining areas to travel to Siliguri for tests and further treatment.

“The lack of the machine is also an indicator of the hill leaders’ priorities,” said a resident of Darjeeling.

Sources said that a 16-slice CT scan machine will be operated at the Darjeeling district hospital under the public-private partnership (PPP) mode.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, The Telegraph had written a series of articles on the lack of a CT scan machine in Darjeeling.

Responding to them, tea garden owner Ajit Kumar Agarwala had proposed to donate a CT-scan machine to the Darjeeling district hospital at an cost of around Rs 1.1 crore.

“…..upon reading the news article (published by The Telegraph on May 31, 2021) it is felt that an urgent installation of CT Scan machine is the need of the hour so we as a social organisation wish to extend our helping hand to the citizens of Darjeeling , through your good office, by donating a 16 Slice CT Scan machine to the Darjeeling Govt. hospital,” Agarwala stated in his letter to the principal secretary of the health department, the GTA administrator and Darjeeling district magistrate in May 2021.

Amar Singh Rai, the chairman of Rogi Kalyan Samiti, Darjeeling District Hospital, had flagged off the CT scan issue with chief minister Mamata Banerjee.

“After Amar Singh Rai’s letter, the state government floated a tender for a CT scan machine in Darjeeling in November 2021,” said a source.

Such was the need for a CT scan that between 2005 and 2007, citizens of Darjeeling had voluntarily pooled in Rs 43 lakh to set up a CT scan unit but although the machine was installed by a non-government outfit, the project proved unsuccessful.

A Covid test in progress File Picture

Bengal reports 166 Covid cases

Calcutta: Bengal on Friday reported 166 Covid-19 infections, 259 recoveries and one death.

Currently, there are 1,413 active patients in the state — 1,351 in home isolation and 62 at hospitals.

According to a state government bulletin, the recovery rate was 98.92 per cent and the mortality rate 1.02 per cent on Friday.

On a day 6,811 samples were tested, the positivity rate was 2.44 per cent.

The state has so far recorded 21,16,686 cases and 20,93,753 recoveries.

The number of total deaths from Covid is 21,520. Total precaution doses administered stood at 1,51,39,982 whereas precaution doses administered on Friday were 10,473.

The Telegraph