Opinion | Revealed: Why ICU ventilators sent from PM CARES Fund were lying unused in hospitals
On Monday, Congress chief Rahul Gandhi made a generalized remark elevating doubts concerning the efficacy of greater than 50,000 ventilators unfold throughout India. He tweeted, first in Hindi after which in English: “There’s a lot common between PMCares ventilator and the PM himself: – too much false PR, – don’t do their respective jobs, – nowhere in sight when needed”. This led to a storm of reactions and feedback on social media, at a time when hundreds of Covid-19 sufferers are combating for his or her lives in hospitals, utilizing ventilators.
Naturally, the query in everyone’s thoughts was: Do the ventilators work? You could not get the suitable solutions from any politician’s social media timelines, however India TV carried out an investigation concerning the 50,000-odd ventilators equipped by the Centre to completely different state governments final yr.
Last yr, when the pandemic broke, there were solely 16,000 ventilators in India, however after fast manufacture and procurement, 50 thousand ventilators were distributed among the many states. Last week in my prime time present ‘Aaj Ki Baat’, I had proven how ventilators sent by the Centre were lying unused and packed, gathering mud in storerooms of district hospitals of Rajasthan, Punjab, Bihar, UP and MP. Some hospital officers cited an absence of educated technicians and anaesthetic employees, whereas some state governments complained that a lot of the ventilators were of inferior high quality and unusable.
India TV reporters carried out investigations to seek out out from which corporations these ventilators were procured, what were the defects and why these corporations were not offering correct service and upkeep. The investigation experiences filed by India TV reporters must be adequate for Rahul Gandhi to open up his eyes to the bitter fact.
First, Punjab the place the Congress get together is in energy. Modi authorities had sent 119 ventilators from PM CARES Fund to Guru Nanak Dev Hospital, Amritsar. The Health Officer complained that 47 of the ventilators were not working, however he was deceptive. An engineer of AgVu firm that manufactured the ventilators, confirmed to India TV reporter on digital camera, how tubings were lacking from some ventilators, and the way lots of the ventilators are gathering mud and usually are not getting used, regardless that they were match for operation. Ventilators want correct ICU atmosphere, round the clock energy and common low-pressure oxygen provide. Above all, ventilators want educated personnel to function.
India TV reporter went to Guru Gobind Singh Medical College Hospital in Faridkot the place he discovered 62 ventilators sent from PM CARES Fund lying like scrap contained in the storeroom. The hospital administration had claimed that these ventilators were not working. These ventilators were manufactured by Bharat Electronics Ltd, a PSU firm, whose engineers visited the hospital after receiving complaints. The engineers discovered that in a lot of the ventilators getting used, the components had not been modified, whereas in another ventilators, the oxygen sensor or the move sensor or micro organism sensor was not working. These components must be modified repeatedly. Once the sensors were modified, 5 ventilators began working. BEL has, in a letter to the Centre, defined the circumstances in which these ventilators were not getting used.
Not solely were AgVa Healthcare ventilators equipped to the hospital, but in addition 50 ventilators manufactured by Jyoti CNC Automation were additionally equipped. Their ventilators too were not working. Our reporter spoke to officers of Jyoti CNC. They sent their engineers to the hospital. After the hospital go to, their engineers stated that there was no oxygen connector to hyperlink the oxygen provide to the ventilator. The oxygen connectors were lacking. How can one anticipate the ventilators to work?
From PM CARES Fund, 809 ventilators were additionally sent to Punjab, out of which solely 532 were put in and 277 ventilators are lying unopened. Last yr, 5 thousand ventilators were sent to Andhra Pradesh, greater than 4,000 every to Maharashtra and UP, 1,900 ventilators were sent to Rajasthan, greater than 2,000 to Karnataka, and three,400 ventilators were sent to Gujarat. Except for 2 states, Rajasthan and Punjab, each dominated by Congress, not one of the remaining states raised questions concerning the high quality of the ventilators. The corporations that equipped ventilators to those states were the identical which equipped ventilators to different states.
After going by way of the replies of the businesses that equipped these ventilators, some details stand out clearly. One, in among the hospitals, the ventilators were not even unpacked. They were simply dumped contained in the hospital storerooms gathering mud, even because the second wave of the pandemic was sweeping India. Some hospitals did not arrange oxygen factors to function the ventilators. In some hospitals, there were no educated technicians or anaesthetic employees to deal with the ventilators. One authorities hospital in Rajasthan had even loaned out its ventilators on hire to a non-public hospital to mint cash from Covid-19 sufferers. In some hospitals, there was a whole lack of servicing and upkeep. In some hospitals, some small spare components or sensors were required to be modified. All these might have been dealt with simply by the hospital administration.
Because of the deficiencies talked about above, none can say that every one the ventilators sent from PM CARES Fund were defective and never up to speed. Out of fifty,000 ventilators given to states, greater than 49,000 ventilators are already working, saving individuals’s lives. Rahul Gandhi ought to have prevented making the generalized comment that every one the ventilators “were not doing their jobs”. By making such sweeping comment, he could be sowing seeds of doubts in the minds of these households, whose close to and pricey ones are on ventilators. The 85 per cent of ventilators which are working were procured in advance, a lot earlier than the second wave, and sent to states, simply earlier than the pandemic took a harmful kind. Such motion must be appreciated, and wherever there are deficiencies, they must be addressed by way of a correct audit.
That is why Prime Minister Narendra Modi has ordered an “immediate audit” of the set up and operation of ventilators supplied by the Centre to completely different states. PM CARES Fund had allotted Rs 2,000 crore for supplying 50,000 ventilators to government-run Covid hospitals in states and union territories final yr, and accountability for non-use of those ventilators have to be fastened. The PM has additionally known as for offering refresher coaching for correctly working ventilators to healthcare staff if essential. It’s time that political events ought to cease politicizing emergency well being care points throughout pandemic.
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