The Center has pulled up states and union territories for nearly 1,600 ventilators that are still pending to be installed despite sending “repeated reminders” to ensure that the machines are installed and fully functional. As the Covid-19 cases are increasing in the country, touching 1,59,632 today, News18.com has learned.
Based on the projected demand by the States/UTs, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare provided over 50,000 Make-in-India ventilators last year.
“Out of the above, 49,064 Make-in-India ventilators have been installed in the hospitals of the States/UTs as per the details provided by them,” said the letter written to the States and Union Territories, Rajesh Bhushan. Secretary, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
The January 7 letter, accessed by News18.com, said that the ministry has noticed a huge gap between ventilators distributed and installed in states. “We have repeatedly requested the States/UTs to install these ventilators expeditiously. Apart from this, the Ministry has sent separate state wise reminders on 29.09.2021 and 22.11.2021.
It further said that it is imperative that “there is no further delay in installing ventilators” in view of the spiraling of COVID-19 cases.
The list attached with the letter shows that Telangana has around 534 pending ventilators, which are yet to be installed, followed by Uttar Pradesh with 236 ventilators and Tamil Nadu with 210 ventilators. Apart from Jammu and Kashmir, Jharkhand, Odisha, West Bengal and Karnataka, there are about 172 ventilators pending in Delhi and 136 in Gujarat for installation.
Reminders sent for need of ventilator
The letter further states that states and UTs had earlier demanded ventilators in large numbers, but despite “repeated reminders”, none of the respective hospitals gave details of the consignments.
“As a result, the ventilators demanded could not be supplied to the hospitals. Since this cannot continue as an open-ended exercise, it is requested that if there is any additional demand for ventilators from the States, the same may be provided within the next 10 days. By January 17, with the details of the consignment to the hospitals. ,
“MoHFW will not be able to address any additional requests thereafter,” it said.
It also reminded hospitals that ventilators procured and provided by the health ministry came with a one-year warranty.
“The initial warranty of these ventilators has now expired or will expire in the near future. This critical infrastructure provided to the states/UTs is now a permanent asset available with hospitals across the country,” Bhushan said while requesting the states to take up the responsibility of maintenance and operation of these ventilators.
He further said, “Given that the cases of COVID have seen a rise in the last few days, there is a need that the States/UTs do not delay this important aspect of arranging for continuous maintenance and functioning of these ventilators.” ,” he adds.
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