In Magadan, the only MRI scanner for all hospitals has been out of order for several months.
The authorities promised to compensate residents for paid tomography, but they deceived them.
In mid-May Magadan regional hospital (MOB) the magnetic resonance imaging scanner, the only one in the region's public medical facilities, failed. The machine was bought for 100 million rubles at the end of 2020. Kolyma officials did not report the breakdown until early June, but after information about it emerged, they issued statements.
Governor Sergey Nosov At a government meeting, he cited "strict deadlines for equipment repair and commissioning," and a little later, the Ministry of Health itself reported on the breakdown in detail. However, the ministry stated that the MRI was not broken, but "currently unable to operate for certain reasons"—it required refilling with helium.
On June 5, the Magadan Region Procurement Center launched an auction to find a contractor to repair the device - in the technical documentation, however, it meant, that in addition to refueling, worn-out components would have to be replaced. However, on June 13, the Center canceled the procurement due to incorrectly drafted technical specifications.
The new auction ended only on June 25. Although a company was found to carry out the work, the documentation was also incorrect—its changed After the contract for 9,6 million rubles was signed, the contract, signed on June 28, stipulated 15 working days for the repairs, ending on July 19. The hospital itself also announced similar deadlines. However, there is still no information about the work's progress on the government procurement website.
Head of the Regional Control Center Pavel Beregovoy He assured that the repairs had been completed, but “specialists also recommended replacing the excess pressure valve, which could fail over time.”
According to him, because of this, the launch of MRI has been postponed until the beginning of August.
During the regional hospital's downtime, residents of Kolyma are forced to undergo examinations at private clinics in Magadan.
The prices are quite high. For example, an MRI of the brain costs 10 900 rubles, with the angioprogram - already 28 000; MRI of the abdominal cavity – 12 000.
Governor Sergei Nosov has ordered that patients undergoing MRI scans be referred to private clinics under compulsory medical insurance policies.
"Therefore, today it is possible to undergo a free tomography scan using the MRI Magadan machine, which is located on the opposite side of the Northern Lights shopping center." - was it is said in a press release from the Kolyma Ministry of Health.
Chief physician of the regional hospital Mikhail Stepanchuk He assured that patients would be reimbursed for paid examinations, but in reality, things turned out differently.
Magadan residents began posting responses from the Ministry of Health in comments posted by the heads of the Central Control Center. The acting Minister of Health recommended that residents of the region seek compensation through the courts, as the regional hospital's accounts have long been frozen.
"A possible solution to the issue of repaying the resulting debt is the legally enshrined right of the interested party to appeal to the court for the protection of violated rights.", the acting Minister of Health of Kolyma wrote to a Magadan resident Andrey Kalichkin.