Government acquires new million dollar CT scan for the PMH

The Ministry of Health has announced that it has acquired a new Aquillon 16 Whole Body CT (Computed Tomography) scanner.

"The Scanner is installed at the Radiology Department of the PMH, with uninterruptible power supply. It was purchased at a cost EC$1,077,930.00," a release from the minister stated.

According to the Mayo Clinic website, Computerized tomography (CT scan) — also called CT — combines a series of X-ray views taken from many different angles and computer processing to create cross-sectional images of the bones and soft tissues inside your body.

"The resulting images can be compared to looking down at single slices of bread from a loaf. Your doctor will be able to look at each of these slices individually or perform additional visualization to view your body from different angles. In some cases, CT images can be combined to create 3-D images. CT scan images can provide much more information than do plain X-rays," Mayo states. "A CT scan has many uses, but is particularly well suited to quickly examine people who may have internal injuries from car accidents or other types of trauma. A CT scan can be used to visualize nearly all parts of the body".

In the release the ministry of health stated: "This CT scanner provides maximum productivity, uncompromised and excellent three-dimensional image quality, instantaneous visualization of acquired images, while having outstanding clinical performance in the diagnosis of medical conditions.

"Engineers from Medika Imaging provided applications training to staff of the Radiology and Maintenance Departments".

The general public should note that the CT- scan services will begin from Tuesday May 20, 2014".