Ventilators procured under PM Care Fund biting dust in hospitals

Jammu: In view of rising number of COVID positive cases the government in daily routine is trying to find out several measures to fight against the pandemic but as per reports, in many hospitals, ventilators purchased under Prime Ministers Care Fund are allegedly biting dust due to the shortage of trained staff required to handle the machine.

Sources in the Health Department said that beds in the Intensive Care Units (ICU) in various hospitals are falling short despite the surging COVID cases with each passing day, adding, “more than 80 percent of beds in Government Medical College Jammu and Associated Hospitals are occupied and in such a situation, the patients need ICU beds, are facing hardships.”

They said that last year, the ventilators (reportedly 400) purchased under PM Care Fund, are biting dust in many hospitals, adding, “ventilators are available but not the technical staff to operate these sensitive devices.”

“The ICU beds availability is very high in government statistics, but patients are not being admitted in these units because the trained staff, is unavailable thus leading to chaos,” sources said adding that dedicated staff, oxygen generator and 24x7 power supply, are the major requisites for smooth operation of a ventilator.

“In some of the hospitals, ventilators are being handled by the staff managing ICU operations to immediately provide treatment to critical patients but in many hospitals, the machines are either non functional or installed to relieve the patients,” they added.

Sources however, said that the Government Medical College Jammu and its associated hospitals have around 156 ventilators, mostly purchased from the PM Care Fund sanctioned by the state government last year.

“Currently, only about 100 ventilators are operational in these hospitals and many have not yet been installed while not even top beds with ventilators are installed in the high dependency ward,” sources added.

“Although hospital authorities are not ready to admit it but the scene on ground has a different tale to narrate,” they added

Meanwhile reliable sources said that similar kind of situation is visible in various hospitals like District Hospital Kishtwar, Udhampur, Community Health Center Ramnagar, Community Health Center Ramgarh, Community Health Center Bani, Doda, Ramban, Reasi and majority of the district hospitals in Kashmir Province.

“In these districts, ventilators were provided to Community Health Centers, but there is no staff to run these sophisticated machines,” sources added.

Meanwhile a senior official in the Directorate of Health Department pleading anonymity admitted shortage of trained staff but said that they have kept the ventilators ready and will be utilised if the situation demands.

Expressing anger at non functioning of ventilators, people have appealed to the the Lieutenant Governor to get details of ventilators purchased under PM Care Fund and why the department failed in engaging the trained staff to operate them not only during COVID period but also at the time of emergency, must be enquired.

However, experts feel that operating a ventilator is not an easy task because it requires trained staff to be available round the clock to monitor oxygen supply, electricity supply, anesthesia, oxygen flow as per the infection and switching over pressure after every three-four hours.

“One should have a blood gas analyzer to monitor the level of oxygen or carbon dioxide in the blood. Not everyone needs a ventilator. Oxygen depends on saturation,” said an expert adding that only five percent of patients need it and due to shortage of specialist staff in Jammu and Kashmir, ventilators cannot be operated in every hospital.

Presently, sources said that 52 COVID patients are on ventilators in GMC Jammu, three in CD Hospital Jammu, two in ASCOMS, two in GMC Doda, three in GMC Kathua and 15 patients are on ventilators at Narayana Hospital, Katra.