[File Photo]

The Lautoka Hospital now has a computerized tomography scan (CT scan) thanks to Aspen Medical.

Chief Executive Annette Owttrim says the CT scan machine arrived two weeks ago and was finally commissioned last Wednesday.

Owttrim says since then, 30 patients have been checked through the CT scan machine.

She says the machine is being monitored in New Zealand and if there are any issues, doctors can directly contact the support team.

The machine that was at the Lautoka Hospital previously could see 12 patients a day, but with this state-of-the-art CT scan, they can double this number.

From August 2021 until February this year, the Ministry of Health had to refer 686 patients to Zens Medical for CT scans.

The Ministry also had to pay $297,340 for the referrals.