Gehlot counted the flaws of ventilators found under PM Cares Fund, said - check the purchase

Jaipur: The Rajasthan Government has accused the Centre of providing defective ventilators to the state. Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot has demanded that the Union Health Ministry thoroughly investigate the purchase of defective ventilators made available through the PM CARES Fund.

"The Centre had made 1,900 ventilators available to the state from the PM Cares Fund. It was responsible for the installation and maintenance of these ventilators. According to doctors, many of these ventilators have technical shortcomings due to which using them can prove to be dangerous for patients," Gehlot said in a statement.

He further said, "The doctors said that there is a pressure drop problem in these ventilators. These ventilators shut down after working for 1-2 hours continuously. There is a problem of sudden decrease in PIO2, failure of oxygen sensor and compressor."

He said Dr. Lakhan Poswal, Principal of Medical College, Udaipur, had also raised the problem posed by these ventilators in the Covid review meeting held on April 5. Apart from Rajasthan, different problems in these ventilators have also been reported in the media in Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Maharashtra and Gujarat.

Ashok Gehlot said two letters were written by the Government of Rajasthan at the secretary level and one letter at the ministerial level to the Centre to make them aware of the problem of these ventilators and to get them fixed at the earliest.

He said that for the maintenance of all ventilators in Rajasthan, the company appointed by the Centre had informed they would send 11 members, but only 6 people are working here. They went to fix ventilators on the complaint but due to lack of experience, they are unable to fix it and doctors are not satisfied, the CM lamented.

He said the Union Health Ministry should investigate how such poor ventilators were procured as these can threaten the lives of patients.