A new portable ultrasound machine, the size of a laptop computer, is taking medical technology to patients in remote areas of the Northern Territory.
The $70,000 system, purchased by Katherine Hospital, will service many of the larger communities in the Katherine Region, such as Kalkaringi, Ngukurr, Borroloola and Hodson Downs, on a monthly basis.
Resolution on the portable ultrasound is as good - if not better - than the larger, bulkier, older machines that cost $230,000.
Now when the specialist or doctor goes out to the communities on their regular visits, the sonographer will also go along. When the ultrasound is completed the images are downloaded onto a disk and sent it back to radiologists at Katherine Hospital.
Katherine Hospital General Manager, Robin Smith, said the portable ultrasound would save a lot of time and money for both the hospital and its patients.
"To bring 24 patients in to Katherine from a community can cost around $11,400 in charters every time. This portable ultrasound is a one-off investment that will save thousands of dollars, Mr Smith said.
"It's actually taking the clinical side of medicine out to the community rather than bringing the community into town.
"It allows the patients to remain with their families in the community."
Mr Smith says the mobility of the new ultrasound makes it incredibly versatile.
"It gives us the ability to move around the hospital. And, in the event of another flood and the hospital is evacuated - as in 1997 - we can still take diagnostic equipment with us."
Media Contact: Cameron Jackson, DHCS Media Support Officer 0401 116 144
Release date: 25 January 2008
