From X-ray film to modern scanners, the Soavinandriana Hospital Center (Cenhsoa) has undergone a profound transformation. A former technician testifies to this evolution and the challenges ahead.
Chief Gendarme of the exceptional class, Olivier Christophe Mampitohy, is one of the veterans of the Soavinandriana Hospital Center (Cenhsoa). He symbolizes the living memory of the technical and structural evolution of the establishment. As a radiography and scanner technician, he experienced the era when X-ray films were dried manually. “When I arrived in 2007, we noticed the obsolescence of the equipment,” he recalls. “We were still washing films with developing chemicals. We had to dry the image with a hair dryer,” he continues.
Techniques have since evolved considerably. Today, the steady hum of digital printers and the new-generation scanner rhythm his daily life. “We take the image out of the printer and it is ready to be delivered to the patient immediately, if no interpretation is needed,” he explains.
The modernization of infrastructure did not stop there. The installation of a “four-slice” scanner marked a decisive turning point in patient care.
“Our capacity has doubled, reaching a rate of 25 to 30 patients in 24 hours, currently, with this new machine,” indicates Olivier Christophe Mampitohy. An efficiency that the hospital is careful to moderate, however. “The device can perform up to 50 procedures in 24 hours. But we spare the device to make it last,” specifies Olivier Christophe Mampitohy.
For this technician, the most spectacular change remains the overall improvement in care and working conditions, under the impetus of the management of Professor Willy Ratovondrainy, the current Director General of the hospital. “The team shows real motivation in patient care. The metamorphosis of the premises is striking. The water problem is definitively solved, the hospital produces its own oxygen instead of depending on the outside, and the premises have been completely renovated. In the past, our corridors were dark, lit by a single light bulb. Today, light is everywhere. All the buildings have been repainted, which had only happened once since my arrival in 2007. The beds are equipped with covers, and flowers adorn the courtyard,” he says.
Captured & Published at: 2026-08-19 05:38:59 (Madagascar Local Time EAT)
Original Source: https://www.lexpress.mg/2026/08/sante-un-technicien-salue-les-progres.html