Citing fund shortage, Tamil Nadu Govt hospital prints X-rays on paper

According to a recent media report in The New Indian Express, the patients of the hospital have been receiving their X-ray reports on paper for the past month.

A patient who received his X-ray result on paper instead of a film following his visit to the hospital due to chronic pain in his right hand, claimed to have faced difficulties in getting an alternate opinion for his illness as the X-ray was on paper.

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Commenting on the same, the Medical Superintendent of the Hospital, Dr. Kamalavasan stated that due to issues on tendering X-ray sheets, the films were not available for a few weeks. He added that they gave the films they had for necessary Medico-Legal cases since they had very few X-ray films in stock. Therefore, he mentioned, that for diagnosis purposes, the digital X-ray results were sent to the concerned doctor by the radiologists through WhatsApp with the patients receiving their results on paper.

Meanwhile, the dean of Thoothukudi Medical College, Dr Nehru said "Issuing X-ray results on papers are equal to receiving it on films. It is common nowadays."

The cost of an X-ray result on film is charged an extra amount of Rs 50 whereas no cost is involved in the case of a paper.

The opinions of healthcare professionals in the matter was mixed as an orthopaedician working at the Government Rajaji Hospital believes that the diagnosis will not be precise in such cases of paper reports, adding that "conditions such as hairline fractures, minuscule lesions, and bone infections would go unnoticed and treatment in such cases will only be based on assumption."

However, the doctors associated with private hospitals said that the method of viewing X-rays digitally was scientifically advanced and thus helpful. They added that the extra money spent on X-rays can be used for other medical services.

On a similar note, a senior ortho specialist from a private hospital said that that the radiologists in private hospitals simply shared the digital format of the X-rays to the doctors, and the patients are given their results copied on CDs for future purposes. Adding that the digital form is better for diagnosis since the X-ray films get corrupted every five years, he said "The digital format is easy to share online to get multiple opinions between departments in minutes"

Talking about the cost of the films, a radiologist associated with a government hospital in Madurai said that the X-ray films that are used across the government hospitals in Tamil Nadu cost around Rs 50 each. He said that the resolution quality of the X-ray image would be lower on paper than on a film. He added that the recommended alternative of X-ray films is a glossy paper which is costlier than the normal films around Rs 80, reported The New Indian Express.

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