No govt-owned CT scan machine in 37 of 51 MP districts: Report

The Madhya Pradesh government has told the High Court that 37 of 51 districts in the state do not have a government-owned CT scan machine.

The information was part of the 7th Interim Action Taken Report which was submitted last week in the HC in a suo motu case on the state government's preparedness in tackling the COVID-19 outbreak, the court-appointed amicus curiae (impartial adviser) in the case, Naman Nagrath, told PTI on Monday.

Nagrath said almost all symptomatic COVID-19 patients have to undergo a CT (computerised tomography) scan as it is crucial to diagnose the extent of lung damage caused by the virus, but the state government had failed to install a single of these crucial machines in 37 districts despite the pandemic raging since March last year.

As per some media reports, MP received Rs 3,712 crore from the State Disaster Relief Management Fund till March this year, with the Centre allowing states to use up to 50 per cent for measures to contain the COVID-19 pandemic.