India, Sept. 16 -- Telangana's government hospitals have only nine MRI machines serving a population of around 3.8 crore, according to data presented by the state health department in the Assembly, The Siasat Daily reported - amounting to roughly one government scanner for every 42 lakh people.

The shortfall is sharper at the district level. Of the state's 33 districts, 29 do not have a government MRI facility at all, with the nine available machines concentrated across eight institutions in just four districts.

Hyderabad accounts for six of them, installed at Gandhi Hospital, Osmania General Hospital, NIMS, TIMS Sanathnagar and MNJ Hospital, with NIMS being the only facility equipped with two machines. The remaining three are located a...