Bhubaneswar: The infrastructural woes at Sriram Chandra Bhanja Medical College and Hospital (SCBMCH) in Odisha’s Cuttack city came to fore again as Priyanka Marandi, the spouse of Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi, reportedly faced inconvenience for availing MRI scan at the premier health institute recently. 

As per reports, Marandi visited the state government-run health institute on July 23 to seek doctor’s advice for some health complications. A senior doctor of the institute advised the Chief Minister’s spouse to go for an MRI scan. However, the MRI machine at the Regional Diagnostic Centre (RDC) of SCBMCH was found lying defunct.

The authorities of SCBMCH reportedly arranged an MRI scan for Marandi at the nearby Acharya Harihar Post Graduate Institute of Cancer (AHPGIC).

The incident has invited sharp reaction from Opposition Congress party. The party targeted the Health Department of the state government for its alleged failure to address infrastructural issues at SCBMCH.

Members of the Congress party led by former Cuttack district unit president Manas Choudhury donated a symbolic sum of Rs 5,000 in coins to the hospital authorities for early repair of the MRI machine.

A senior official of SCBMCH, on conditions of anonymity, revealed that the authorities were well aware about the defunct MRI machine at the Regional Diagnostic Centre (RDC) on the hospital premises. That is why, the authorities had made all prior arrangements for the MRI scan of the Chief Minister’s spouse at the AHPGIC.

The superintendent of SCBMCH, meanwhile, refuted media reports that the Chief Minister’s wife returned home without undergoing the MRI scan. “The MRI scan was conducted on the Chief Minister’s wife as per the advice of the doctor,” he said.