Lone CT machine at GTB Hospital adds to patients’ woes

Under the early morning sky, a weary line of patients snakes out of Guru Teg Bahadur (GTB) Hospital’s Radiology Department in East Delhi. Many clutch torn appointment slips or faded receipts, having waited here before, either to book a CT scan slot or to collect a delayed report. The six-floor 1,000-bed hospital sees thousands of visitors daily, around 6,000 on a normal day. The figure goes up to 12,000 on busy days. However, only one CT scanner is available. The scene is tense but orderly, as patients exchange worried glances.

Sumitra (name changed), 70, stands near the corridor pillars, with exhaustion etched on her face. Referred for a CT angiography, she recounts two aborted scan dates. “They gave me October 8 and October 12, but on both days the CT machine wasn’t working,” she said.

“I was finally scanned on October 13, but they said that ‘a technical glitch’ made the result inconclusive. On October 28, they told me I’d have to come back for a retest. But the machine is not working today as well. I am told that if the machine is repaired, I will be informed,” she said.

Sumitra is one of many repeat visitors caught in the backlog of the overworked CT unit.

Nearby, Vivek from Shahdara waits. The 35-year-old had a scan on September 26, but as of October 28 he still has no report in hand – well over a month of waiting. “Today, it’s been one complete month and two more days and I am yet to get my report,” said Vivek as he shows his chats with his doctor, who has asked him to come at least thrice in the past one month.

In the emergency ward, sisters Zafar and Farhat from Bareilly look on helplessly as their elderly mother, Haseena, lies on a stretcher. Haseena was admitted for a surgery, due on this Thursday, but surgeons have suggested a CT scan before the operation.

The siblings report they have been in the hospital for 25 days already. They were asked to leave and given no further dates for CT scan until this correspondent intervened. Farhat said, “We feel completely helpless – without that scan they can’t proceed with my mother’s surgery.”

A senior radiology technician at GTB said, “Over 100 patients come for CT scans every day, but we have only one machine.”

“It frequently breaks down under constant load,” he said. He also confirms that the hospital treats referrals from the Institute of Human Behaviour and Allied Sciences (IHBAS). “The IHBAS has no CT for the past three years. So, its patients come here too,” he noted.

In September 2025, Chief Minister Rekha Gupta ordered a complete overhaul of the IHBAS following a surprise inspection that revealed the premier mental health and neurosciences institute in Dilshad Garden has been without an MRI or CT scan machine since 2012.

The IHBAS, an autonomous institution under the Delhi Government, provides specialised care in psychiatry, clinical psychology, neurology and related fields.

Medical Director Dr Vinod Kumar acknowledged the overload. “We have one of the highest footfalls – between 6,000 to 12,000 patients every single day,” he said.

He noted that GTB’s CT scanner is more than a decade old and that breakdowns are frequent. “We are in talks with the government to get a new one,” he said.

Earlier this year, a RTI response revealed that the GTB Hospital’s Radiology Department operates with only one CT scan machine and has no MRI facility. Aman Kaushik, RTI activist who filed the application in January, said, “The MRI machine has been in the pipeline since 2016.”

He said the absence of an MRI scanner has forced GTB’s radiology students to undergo part of their training at other institutes.

Daily footfall of over 6K patients

- Guru Teg Bahadur (GTB) Hospital is one of Delhi’s largest state-run tertiary care facilities, with around1,000 beds and a daily footfall of over 6,000 patients

-  Despite this massive load, the hospital’s Radiology Department runs with just one CT scanner and no MRI facility

- In February 2024, the Delhi High Court flagged GTB for providing “misleading information” in the court about patient admissions, observing that “on paper everything looks fine, but on the ground people are denied treatment.”