Hospital Installs MRI Machine For Post Graduate Programme In Radiology

The Barau Dikko Teaching Hospital of Kaduna State University (KASU) has installed a Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) machine for the diagnoses of all kinds of diseases.
The hospital’s Chairman, Medical Advisory Committee, Dr Tokan Baduku, made this known in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Kaduna on Thursday.
Baduku explained that the equipment, installed on Friday, was procured with support from Tertiary Education Trust Fund’s Special Intervention Project at the cost of N149.9 million.
He described the MRI as a type of scan machine that used strong magnetic fields and radio waves to produce detailed images of the inside of the human body.
He said that it can scan any part of the body to enable a doctor to diagnose many illnesses and treat patients better, particularly in the area of surgery where the machine shows the doctor precisely where to go to.
He said that before now, the teaching hospital had to refer patients to other hospitals in the state and sometimes to Abuja and Kano for MRI scan.
He described the development as a turning point for the hospital’s quest to provide quality and efficient medical training, research and services.
“Because of the MRI machine, we will soon start a post graduate programme in radiology, a specialised branch of medicine that uses imaging to diagnose and treat diseases within the body.
“We hope to get accreditation for the training before the end of the year and if done, we will be able to train the needed manpower in radiology within the next five years.
“Our medical students will equally acquire basic knowledge on how to use the machine to diagnose and treat illnesses,” he added.
He said that KASU and the hospital management were doing all they could to equip the teaching hospital with the necessary equipment to provide world class standards training, research and health services to the people.
On accreditation, the chairman said that KASU medical school had already scaled two stages of accreditation and currently awaiting the final stage.
He added that the accreditation expected hopefully by the end of next quarter would enable the university to graduate its first set of medical students.
“Similarly, we have secured full accreditation for Family Medicine last year and plans have been concluded for accreditation of four additional programmes.
“They are community medicine, internal medicine, obstetrics and gynaecology, and paediatrics, hopefully by the end of next quarter,” he said.
He also said that the teaching hospital currently had no fewer than 60 consultants in different fields and recently recruited resident doctors and medical officers to improve the quality of service delivery.
“We hope that through our creativity and innovations, we will in the five years, specialise in a specific transplant or surgery that will make us unique.
“We are already partnering with foreign universities to offer quality training and services in different areas.
“For example, we have partnered with an American university in the area of sickle cell disease, Italian university on paediatrics and United Kingdom and South African universities on blood diseases,” Baduku said.
The chairman also said that the hospital would equally partner with the private sector under the Public Private Partnership (PPP) to improve the quality and range of services.
“We are already operating one of our laboratories under the PPP and we are concluding plans to offer InVitro Fertilisation services, a process where egg is fertilised with a sperm outside the body.
“This service will be provided under PPP arrangement at cheaper rate, less than a million Naira compared with current charges in Abuja and other locations at between N1.5 to N2.5 million,” he said.
Prof. Muhammad Tanko, the KASU Vice Chancellor, also told NAN on phone that the developments in the teaching hospital were necessary measures.
Tanko assured that the university would do all it can to improve the quality of training, research and services. (NAN)