Jammu, Nov 8: At least 165 ventilators in SMHS Hospital in Srinagar which were supplied under PM CARES Fund have been found defective, according to RTI reply.
Addressing a presser, RTI activist Balvinder Singh said that he had filed RTI in the office of Principal Commissioner, Health and Medical Education Department to know about the functioning of ventilators of different bands supplied to J&K under PM CARES Fund.
“The reply admitted that ventilators supplied were not of good quality because of which they are not working properly in Jammu division. GMC Jammu has admitted that out of total 179 ventilators, 13 ventilators are defective and they are not working,” he added.
He said that the doctors were apprehensive of action if anything is disclosed about the defective ventilators might be the reason that the GMC Jammu did not disclose further.
“However, the case was different in GMC Srinagar as the official responded without hiding any fact,” he said quoting RTI reply.
“GMC Srinagar especially Head of Department Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicines (GMC Srinagar) did not come under pressure or any compulsion and clearly shared information about defective ventilators of three different makes and brands which were supplied to them under PM CARES Fund for the better patient care management,” he said.
Quoting the HoD Department of Anesthesiology’s RTI reply, he said: “The departments have received Bharat ventilators from Medical Superintendent SMHS Hospital and they were put in the trial run. However, all these ventilators returned to Medical Superintendent SMHS Hospital due to compressor/heat-up problems, which resulted in sudden shut down of these ventilators.”
Therefore, he said, these ventilators did not support patient care management.
In his reply, the HoD further stated that three Agva ventilators installed in SMHS Hospital are non-functional due to certain problems like display properly not working, and problems in generating tidal volume.
He further said that: “However, after a trial run it was observed that tidal volume had not generated. The required Fi02 could not be delivered to the patients. Thus, it is not feasible to be put in use for patient care as the ventilators stop automatically. Hence, put patients at risk.”
He said that “22 more Agva ventilators are stationed at DRDO under trial.”
“We appeal the Chief Justice of J&K High Court to take serious cognizance of the issue and direct to the Chief Secretary J&K to constitute a committee of experts to examine the functioning of all the ventilators installed in various health institutions of JK UT supplied under PM Cares,” he said.