Ultrasound services resume at Aweil hospital after 2 years of breakdown

Patients can now get ultrasound services at Aweil Civil Hospital after the machine stopped working two years ago.

The main hospital that serves Northern Bahr el Ghazal has not been having a working ultrasound machine due to a lack of a technician to fix the old one.

An ultrasound machine makes images so that organs inside the body can be examined.

Doctors commonly use ultrasound to study a developing fetus (unborn baby), a person’s abdominal and pelvic organs, muscles and tendons, or their heart and blood vessels. Other names for an ultrasound scan include sonogram or (when imaging the heart) an echocardiogram.

Expectant mothers and people with complicated organ problems have had to travel long distances or seek private healthcare services for ultrasound scanning.

Marko Ayuel Ayuel who is in-charge of maternity ward at Aweil civil hospital said they often send pregnant mothers to private clinics.

“Most of the pregnant mothers returned home without solution [because] when we send them to the private clinics, they came back and say that they were charged highly.”

The charges at the private clinic for ultrasound service is between 3,500 to 4,000 South Sudanese Pounds.

The machine at Aweil main hospital will now operate from Monday to Friday. Ayuel said no patient will be required to pay for the ultrasound services.

“We got consultants who will work in the room of ultrasound. All mothers will get accurate information on their health,” he said.