The public, in particular, patients of the Penang Hospital in George Town, need not worry over last Friday’s explosion at the Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) room.

An inspection found the area to be safe, said the hospital’s visitors board chairperson Lim Thoon Deong, adding that the explosion was caused by a gas leak.

He said the imaging machine, which had been in use at the hospital since 2002, was expected to resume operations this Friday.

“Although the machine was damaged, an inspection by the hospital authorities found it safe to resume operations,” he told a news conference in George Town today.

Last Friday, helium gas used in the imaging machine cooling system was found to have leaked.  

Lim said while the cause of the leakage was being investigated, there was an indication the leak could be linked to the MRI’s heavy usage.

“I understand the imaging machine faced similar problems in 2007 and 2009.  We hope the Health Ministry could provide an additional MRI machine to the hospital due to the increasing number of patients,” he added.

- Bernama