Minister of State for Urban Development Rajesh Tope admitted that there has been an undue delay in installing and commissioning the scanning machine. Madhukar Chavan of the Bharatiya Janata Party, who had raised the issue in the upper House, wanted to know the reason for the delay and what action the administration was planing to take against those responsible for the delay.

Tope said that the PET scan machine was initially planned to be installed in the nuclear medicine department located on the second floor.

“When the scan machine arrived at KEM Hospital it was found to be weighing 10 tonnes. The nuclear medicine department is located in the heritage structure and authorities were uncertain whether the old structure could withstand such a massive weight,” said Tope. The minister said that it took another four months to study the structural stability before installing the machinery. He added that a committee of representatives from the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre has now finalised the location for the scan machine to be installed and it would be commissioned by May 2008.

“Why did the civic authorities not know the weight of the machine before it arrived?” questioned Vinod Tawde, also of the BJP.