Probe purchase of faulty ventilators with PM Cares fund: Rajasthan CM

JAIPUR: Chief minister Ashok Gehlot on Thursday urged the Union health ministry to launch a probe into the procurement of defective ventilators using PM Cares fund.
Gehlot in a tweet said the central government made available to states 1,900 ventilators using PM Cares fund. The installation and maintenance was of the Union government.
According to doctors, there were many technical deficiencies in the ventilators so use of these ventilators was dangerous for patients’ lives.
The doctors complained that these ventilators have a problem of ‘pressure drop’. After working continuously for one to two hours, they stop functioning. These include the sudden drop in PIO2, the failure of oxygen sensors and compressors.
In the Covid review meeting held from open VC on April 5, Dr Lakhan Poswal, principal of Medical College, Udaipur, raised the issue of these ventilators. Apart from Rajasthan, different problems in these ventilators have also been reported in the media in Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Maharashtra and Gujarat.
In order to make them aware of the problem of these ventilators and to get them fixed at the earliest, two letters were written by the Rajasthan government at the secretary level and one letter at the ministerial level to the Government of India so that they could be rectified.
For the maintenance of ventilators in Rajasthan, the company appointed by the Centre had promised to send 11 members, but only six people are working here. However, due to lack of experience, they are unable to fix it.
The Union health ministry should investigate how the purchase of such defective ventilators was made. These can threaten the lives of patients.
Gehlot said cases of mucormycosis (black fungus) disease among patients who have been cured of corona in various states, including Rajasthan, are very worrying. It has been reported that this disease is increasing in patients with diabetes and cured of corona. In this disease, people are losing sight and in some patients the doctors had to remove jaw.
The Centre should take it seriously and conduct research to prevent it. Also, necessary medicines and injections such as amphotericin, which can be used in the prevention and treatment of this disease, should be arranged, he demanded.
He also repeated the demand of vaccines instead of states floating global tenders. Gehlot said, “So far, 11 states have mooted global tenders for the purchase of vaccines due to lack of stock in the country. This will cost different rates to various states. It would have been good if the Centre would have taken out global tenders and made vaccines available to the states in a planned manner because vaccination could only prevent the third wave.”