Rajasthan alleges ventilators received from Centre under PM-CARES are 'faulty'
What's the story
The government of Rajasthan has written to the central government after receiving complaints from several districts about "faulty" ventilators that it received under the PM CARES fund, The Indian Express reported today. PM CARES or the Prime Minister's Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations fund was created last March by the Indian government in response to the coronavirus pandemic. Here are more details.
Details
Medical Education Secretary wrote a letter to the Centre
Vaibhav Galriya, the state's Secretary of Medical Education department, had written a letter to the Centre on Tuesday asking that the "issue be resolved." He said the letter was sent to the Union Health Ministry after taking feedback from several medical colleges across the state. The matter was first discussed in a COVID-19 review meeting chaired by Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Monday.
Meeting
'Ventilators run for 1-2 hours and then stop working'
In the meeting, Dr. Lakhan Poswal, the Principal of Ravindra Nath Tagore Medical College in Udaipur, stated that they had received 85 ventilators but they are defective. "The ventilators run for 1-2 hours and then they stop working," he said in the meeting. The state received 1,138 ventilators under PM CARES, which account for almost 60% of the total ventilators in the state.
Details
All ventilators have an issue of pressure drop: Galriya
Galriya told CM Gehlot in the meeting that all the ventilators have a problem of "pressure drop." "When we put someone on a ventilator, it is important to have a sustained pressure, as it becomes the difference between life and death. So this feedback is coming from all over, that there is a pressure drop problem (sic)," he had said.
Issues
CM to raise issue with PM in next video conference
Dr. SS Rathore, the Principal and Controller of the Sardar Patel Medical College and Prince Bijay Singh Memorial Hospital in Bikaner, said that the ventilators had been upgraded but were not put to use after that as the number of cases decreased. Galriya, however, claimed that even the update of software in the ventilators did not yield results.
History
Earlier, Rajasthan and Centre disagreed over vaccine supply
Just last month, the Rajasthan government and the Centre had gotten involved in a war-of-words over the issue of vaccine supply in the state. The state government had alleged an acute shortage of vaccine stocks and even stopped vaccinations at some state-run facilities in several districts. However, the Union Health Ministry had denied those allegations at the time.