Heart patients in trouble after TMT machine in Thrissur medical college stops working

Mulankunnathukavu: Patients at the cardiology department in the Thrissur medical college have been left helpless after the Treadmill Test Machine (TMT) stopped working. The department had two machines earlier; however, one of them had stopped working some time ago. The tests were done using the remaining one machine which hasn’t been working for two days. The machine is inevitable as TMT test is one of the primary screening tests for heart diseases. Doctors recommend other tests or procedures based on the results of the TMT test. It is for the first time that both machines have stopped working at the same time. 

Meanwhile, both machines that no longer works were around 12 years old. When the first one stopped working, work load increased significantly on the second machine. Now, the patients are being referred to the district hospitals in Thrissur and Palakkad as alternative facilities haven’t been set up yet. TMT test costs over Rs 1000 in private hospitals. 

The hospital authorities say that they are trying to mitigate the crisis by immediately buying at least one machine, possibly this month itself, using the hospital development fund. Meanwhile, the government has given the approval to buy one more machine. But, it would take time to complete the procedures of the purchase. 

The crisis could be temporarily managed when the new machine is bought by the HDS. But, the patients will have to suffer until then.