At a time when a Covid patient died while waiting for an ICU bed at a private hospital in Mohali on Wednesday, eight ventilators are lying unused at the civil hospital in Phase 6 for the past eight months.
Reason: There is no infrastructure or staff to operate them.
The district, which has emerged as a medical hub, has around 30 private hospitals with 256 ICU beds. None of the nine government facilities offers one, even as the Mohali assembly constituency is represented by the Punjab health minister.
Dr Adarshpal Kaur, civil surgeon, Mohali said: “We bought eight ventilators a few months back, but don’t have the infrastructure and manpower to make them functional.”
The hospital needs permanent anaesthetic personnel besides other facilities, for which a request has been made to the health department, she said.
The civil hospital has recently been converted into a dedicated Covid-19 facility with 100 oxygen beds. Among other government hospitals in the district, only the Dhakoli civil hospital is attending to Covid-19 patients, and critical cases are being referred to Rajindra Hospital in Patiala, which is also stretched to the limit.
“Though Rajindra Hospital is full, we are increasing its capacity,” said Dr GB Singh, director health, Punjab.
{{/usCountry}}“Though Rajindra Hospital is full, we are increasing its capacity,” said Dr GB Singh, director health, Punjab.
{{/usCountry}}Health minister Balbir Singh Sidhu said: “We will be soon making the medical college in Mohali operational with all the facilities. We are trying to have some ICU beds in government hospitals too.”