Re:The madness of reduced medical diagnostics
by JumpCrisscross on Friday May 20, 2022 @05:27PM
(#31452728)
> this expense was inherent to the machine and had little to do with cost of related labor
The machines are expensive. They also vary in strength, with scanners in e.g. the Philippines and Malaysia being of considerably lower strength than is common in America [1]. (I couldn't find data for India. There are certainly no 7T scanners there; I believe most are 1.5T and below. In New York, it was a 3T.)
Between that, which might be a 2 or 3x differential between a low and high field strength scanner, and the cost differential of "highly-trained and well-paid technicians [needed] to maintain and operate" [2], 4 to 5x seems explicable.
The machines are expensive. They also vary in strength, with scanners in e.g. the Philippines and Malaysia being of considerably lower strength than is common in America [1]. (I couldn't find data for India. There are certainly no 7T scanners there; I believe most are 1.5T and below. In New York, it was a 3T.)
Between that, which might be a 2 or 3x differential between a low and high field strength scanner, and the cost differential of "highly-trained and well-paid technicians [needed] to maintain and operate" [2], 4 to 5x seems explicable.
[1] https://researchonline.lshtm.ac.uk/id/eprint/6700/1/IL9.pdf
[2] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31449409