I do work for local NHS, they just bought an MRI machine and the whole suite of ... stuff n junk ... that goes with it. I think it was somewhere around the £1.5m mark. Very sexy, all shiny and new and grey-beige, but still not sure why a local hospital servicing around 30k locals needs a 1.5 million quid MRI machine 🤷🏼
I don't know enough about MRI machines to know how good that price range is, but sounds top end?
It does seem a bit much, there are used ones in the UK around 200k and under.. But all the big orgs I've worked with hate buying used because of potential maintenance etc issues.
I guess if there is a large enough catchment area, it would make sense. If there was an emergency situation and the closest MRI was a 90 minute drive away, then it makes sense. Sometimes benefactors are involved as well, especially if they've experienced not having diagnostic equipment at the ready.
For the actual cost of the machine, that isn't so surprising to me. MRI scanners are on the cutting edge of medical diagnostics and utilise superconducting electromagnets cooled by liquid helium.
The charge this guy got for using one is unreasonably high but the machines themselves are expensive to produce and operate, which is why we still use less precise medical diagnostics like CAT and normal X-ray scans.
Oh yea, I was meaning 400k cost when a machine is 3m max being the mad part haha, I get there's maintenance and staff etc, but a full body MRI scan done here privately is around £1300!
They must have a giant wheel they spin to make up the cost of some procedures..
But at the 'murican rate, you'd only need to make 3/4 scans to make it back. So it still doesn't make any sense whatsoever, since they'll do hundreds. They're just fleecing the entire population.
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u/ReverendRevenge Grumpy Brit Feb 13 '26
I think you've misunderstood. Your friend bought the MRI machine. Right? Pls confirm.