The Mansoura University Hospital has not been able to conduct magnetic Doppler scans for the last five months because its equipment is broken.
Technicians said the Doppler unit had been in action for ten years until the university terminated its maintenance contract with the supplying company in 2008 after the company doubled its fees to LE320,000.
An X-ray technician, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said the CAT Scan and three other normal x-ray devices are also out of order. He said doctors are forced to use less sophisticated devices and cannot accurately locate tumors, a problem that has particularly affected patients with cancer.
The technician said patients receiving free state medical care will now have to go to private labs and pay for Doppler scans or X-rays with their own money. Also, medical students are no longer able to carry out scientific research as they have no equipment to work with, he said.
The director of Mansoura University Hospital, Dr Safwat Abdel Raziq, denied that the maintenance contract had been terminated.
"Siemens, the manufacturer of the Doppler, stopped maintenance due to problems it had with its local authorized dealer," he said.
Meanwhile, Dr Nabil el-Morshidi, director general of public university hospitals, called for a fund-raising campaign to collect LE15 million from the private sector to update the hospital.
Translated from the Arabic Edition.
