Ventilators procured under PM Cares were of inferior quality: Maharashtra Congress

Congress on Friday alleged that the ventilators procured by the Central government under PM Cares Fund were of inferior quality and could not be installed in hospitals, even when they were badly needed to treat Covid-19 patients

Congress on Friday alleged that the ventilators procured by the Central government under PM Cares Fund were of inferior quality and could not be installed in hospitals, even when they were badly needed to treat Covid-19 patients.

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Ministry of health and family welfare (MoHFW), however, refuted the allegations saying they were ‘baseless and incorrect’ and without the support of full information.

Maharashtra Congress’s general secretary and spokesperson Sachin Sawant said that about 100 ventilators supplied by the Centre to government hospitals in Nashik and Aurangabad could not be installed because of flaws in them. Citing a probe committee appointed by the Government Medical College in Aurangabad, Sawant said that the ventilators could not be repaired even by the technicians appointed by the manufacturing company. He said 60 ventilators provided to a hospital in Nashik were lying idle because the parts required for their installation were not provided.

“It is a big scam of procurement from the money received in donations to PMCares Fund. The procurement needs to be investigated by a state-level committee. Modi government forced corporate houses in the country to donate to this fund, but information about the donations was kept under the wrap. The fund was kept out of the purview of the Right To Information Act. The public need to know how and why such highly incompetent manufacturing company got the contract to supply ventilators,” Sawant said.

In its clarification issued through Press Information Bureau, the MoHFW has said, “The ventilators in question are not funded under PM Cares fund. In Aurangabad Medical College, 150 ventilators were supplied by Jyoti CNC. Of them, 100 ventilators reached Aurangabad on April 19 and another 50 on April 23, followed by their installation as per the allocations received from the State authorities. Some of them were installed in private hospitals by state authorities. On getting complaints, the engineers appointed by manufacturers attended the calls by recalibrating some of them and replacing parts for few others. The ventilators were made functional and commissioned subsequently. Some of the complaints were for the improper mask fitting on patients.”

The statement further stated that the team of service engineers is still in the hospital and as soon as a ventilator is fitted on a patient with NIV mode, they shall be in a position to demonstrate this to the hospital authorities there. At present the ventilators have been put on Invasive mode on the patient and functioning fine, it said.