Health Ministry rubbishes reports of ‘faulty’ ventilators being supplied under PM CARES

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The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Thursday said that media reports claiming ventilators supplied by the Central government to Faridkot’s Guru Gobind Singh Medical College (GGSMC) and Hospital, are lying unused due to technical glitches are seen to be unfounded and not having the full information on the matter.

“There have been some media reports suggesting that Government of India supplied ventilators (supported by PM CARES) to GGS Medical College and Hospital, Faridkot, Punjab are lying unused as a result of technical glitches which have not been resolved due to poor after-sales support by the manufacturers. These reports seem to be unfounded and not having the full information on the matter,” the ministry said.

The ministry said that the ventilators were available in very limited numbers in government hospitals across the country at the beginning of the pandemic last year. That is when the local manufacturers were encouraged to produce “Make in India” ventilators to address the huge projected demand of the country and orders placed on them.

“There are a few states which have received the ventilators but are yet to get these installed in their hospitals. Union Health Secretary has written to seven such states on April 11, 2021, which still have more than 50 ventilators lying uninstalled with them for the last 4-5 months. They have been requested to get the installation expedited so that the ventilators can be put to optimal use,” it said.

With reference to the recent media report regarding 71 of 80 AGVA make Ventilators being non-functional or faulty at the GGS Medical College and Hospital, Faridkot, Punjab, the ministry clarified that 88 Ventilators have been supplied by Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) and five by AGVA while adding that after successful installation and commissioning, these ventilators were provided with Final Acceptance Certificate by the hospital authorities.

BEL has informed that the bulk of the ventilators at GGS Medical College Hospital (GGSMCH), Faridkot are not faulty, as are being reported in a section of the media.

“Their engineers have visited also the hospital on different occasions in the past to address the complaints received and carried out minor repairs required promptly. They have even conducted repeated demonstrations of the functioning of the ventilators to the staff over there,” the health ministry added.

It further said that that there are issues and problems with the infrastructure in GGSMCH including the non-availability of required pressure in the central oxygen gas pipelines.