191 ventilators lie unused in HP for want of skilled staff

State health department has a shortage of skilled technical staff, including anaesthetists to operate the equipment

At least 191 medical ventilators received from the Centre during the first Covid-19 wave last year under the PM Cares Fund are lying unused in Himachal Pradesh due to the lack of trained staff to operate them besides technical reasons.

Till last year, the hill state had only 52 ventilators in its health institutions, including medical colleges. In June last year, the state received 574 ventilators from Chennai, including 178 portable ones of which 405 are functional (Representative Image/HT )

Till last year, the hill state had only 52 ventilators in its health institutions, including medical colleges. In June last year, the state received 574 ventilators from Chennai, including 178 portable ones of which 405 are functional.

“All ventilators received from the Centre were distributed to the hospitals,” said Ramesh Chand, the deputy director, health, who is the nodal officer for procurement. “We have received ample personal protective equipment (PPE) kits and masks from the Centre,” he says.

The ventilators were distributed to different hospitals for installation. Some hospitals installed them, anticipating the requirement, while a majority of them, particularly the district and zonal hospitals, remained reluctant to install them. The health department has now hired a private company to install the ventilators.

A majority of the 191 ventilators are lying unused for want of the medical gas pipeline system and other accessories needed to operate them. Thirty ventilators were given to Indira Gandhi Medical College and Hospital in Shimla; 19 to Deen Dayal Upadhyay Hospital, Shimla; and 10 to Kamla Nehru Hospital. Five ventilators each were given to hospitals in Rohru and Rampur.

Dr Rajendra Prasad Medical College, Tanda, got 42 ventilators and 15 went to Jawahar Lal Nehru Medical College, Chamba. Ten ventilators were given to hospitals in Palampur, but they were not installed and five were dispatched to the hospital in Nurpur, while 15 ventilators were given to the zonal hospital in Dharamshala.

The ventilators given to the Palampur hospitals were later shifted to Dr Rajendra Prasad Medical College, Tanda, as the hospitals did not have doctors who could operate them.

The health department has a shortage of skilled technical staff, including anaesthetists to operate the equipment.

Stock unused, returned to Centre

While the stock is lying unused, high-load health institutions, such as Rajendra Prasad Government Medical College, Tanda, and Lal Bahadur Shastri Government Medical College, Nerchowk, are facing shortage of ventilators.

RPGMC, Tanda, has 72 ICU beds and all of them are occupied as on May 16. Similarly, LBSGMC has also exhausted its 50-ICU bed facility. Indira Gandhi Medical College, Shimla, has 45 ventilator beds of which 38 are occupied.

According to health department sources, the state received 250 more ventilators from the Centre around two months ago, but these were later returned. While the health authorities claimed that these were portable ventilators and were meant for another state, the sources said that the Centre recalled these ventilators as they were lying unused.

Foreign aid reaches Himachal

Himachal Pradesh has received medical equipment to fight the pandemic from various countries. Among them are 96 large oxygen cylinders from Finland, 25,000 viral transport mediums (VTMs), mask and PPE kits from Kazakhstan; 288 large oxygen cylinders from Singapore; and 25,000 rapid testing kits from South Korea. Earlier, 50 ventilators from Switzerland, 41 from Spain, 20 from Canada, 10 large ICU ventilators from Egypt were received.

Shimla has got 150 large oxygen cylinders from England, 283 small oxygen cylinders from Kuwait, 100 small oxygen cylinders from Korea, 185 cylinders from Taiwan, 596 remdesivir injections from the US and 80,000 masks.