One machine, long queue, staff crunch: At LNJP, patient asked to wait till 2028-end for an MRI

One machine, long queue, staff crunch: At LNJP, patient asked to wait till 2028-end for an MRI Shahjad turned to the patients waiting around him and indicated them the slip.

Key points

• 5 min read New Delhi Sep 3, 2026 05: 19 AM IST.
• A surprised Shahjad asks others if the date given to him – December 21, 2028 – for an MRI test is a mistake.
• Shahjad, 46, a car driver from Saharanpur, had come to Lok Nayak Hospital, Delhi's biggest administration hospital, for an MRI of his head.
• A right turn out of Room 128 leads to a passage covered by a curved plastic roof, its steel railings painted in the tricolour.
• The Delhi Arogya Kosh (DAK) provides financial assistance of up to Rs 5 lakh to eligible patients for treatment and diagnostic tests.

Notably, a surprised Shahjad asks others if the date given to him – December 21, 2028 – for an MRI test is a mistake. (Credit: Tabshir Shams).

When Shahjad was handed the slip, he thought the date must be a mistake. It remarked December 21, 2028.

Shahjad, 46, a car driver from Saharanpur, had come to Lok Nayak Hospital, Delhi's biggest administration hospital, for an MRI of his head. He had undergone surgery at the hospital in November 2025 to remove a pituitary adenoma, a tumour on the pituitary gland. Doctors had since discovered that some of the tumour remained, pressing against the surrounding tissue, and had asked him to undergo a follow-up MRI.

"Mera sarr jhanjhanata hai (I obtain tingling sensations in my head). It hurts a lot. I obtain up at night from the pain, " he stated. "I have not been able to work for the last one-and-a-half years."

He asked the man at the counter to check the date again. "It's correct, " he was informed.

LNJP Hospital has just one functional MRI machine and one CT scanner. (Credit: Tabshir Shams) It was around 2 pm in Room 128, where more than a hundred patients sat waiting for their names to be called. Five steel railings divided the room into four queues, each leading to a separate counter. The room itself was enclosed in a steel cage, with seating built along three of its edges.

Over a hundred patients had come for dates – for a CT scan, an ultrasound, an MRI, an X-ray or a mammogram. Only a handful would walk away with a test date that day. "Some have been given appointments in September; many have got dates for December, " an official remarked.

Meanwhile, the reason is stark: LNJP at present has just one functional MRI machine and one functional CT scanner, despite an outpatient department that sees more than 5, 000 patients a day. "Around 5, 000 OPD patients visit us every day. There is a shortage in both staffing and machinery, " a hospital official remarked.

Delhi administration Health Minister Pankaj Singh stated that, to reduce the waiting period for MRI scans at LNJP Hospital, a new machine has been procured through CSR and was installed last week. "A new MRI machine was installed just last week. It is on trial. A CT scan machine is additionally under trial. The machines have been procured under a CSR initiative from Indian Oil Corporation Limited, " Singh remarked.

But specialists in the hospital's Radiology Department remarked the new MRI machine would address only part of the challenge. While radiology staff are already stretched by the existing workload, a single MRI machine operating for 12 hours a day can conduct roughly 10 scans, they remarked. Only 10 MRIs a day.

For context, a right turn out of Room 128 leads to a passage covered by a curved plastic roof, its steel railings painted in the tricolour. One path leads towards the OPD block; the other towards Room 135, where the MRI is performed.

Inside, the MRI machine runs from 8 am to 8 pm. "Each patient must first be registered, prepared and screened for metal objects before being wheeled into the room. The scan itself takes between 40 and 60 minutes. The images then have to be reviewed before the next patient can be called in, " the senior resident explained.

"There are three doctors working around the machine, along with two to three nursing staff and lab technicians, " the resident remarked. "For emergency patients, we try to expedite the MRI. But only regarding 10 successful MRIs are performed in a day due to a lack of machines. There is a shortage of radiologists additionally."

As LNJP is unable to meet its own diagnostic demand, sources remarked a significant burden is being shifted to private providers. "Under the Delhi Arogya Kosh scheme, we refer patients to private testing centres, " a hospital official remarked.

In practice, the Delhi Arogya Kosh (DAK) provides financial assistance of up to Rs 5 lakh to eligible patients for treatment and diagnostic tests. As sources indicate, LNJP referred 420 patients for CT scans, MRI, PET and ultrasound tests under the DAK scheme in January; 432 in February; 392 in March; 439 in April; 350 in May; 347 in June; and 407 in July.

"It's an arrangement that has become an unofficial pressure valve for an overburdened public system. Private providers are helping to reduce some of that pressure, but they are additionally making profits from the demand that the public system is unable to meet. If we address the shortage of staff and improve the infrastructure, this should not happen at all, " another senior doctor remarked.

For now, one machine, long queue, staff crunch: At LNJP, patient asked to wait remains the part of the story worth watching, and further updates are likely as more details are confirmed.