DEATH OF MBBS student (2004 batch) Deepak Agrawal for lack of ventilator facility has once again raised the question on the purchase of ventilators by KGMU.
The problem of ventilators is not new to King George’s Medical University.
Sometimes it’s the machine and most of the time manpower is the problem.
It’s not that there were no ventilators at the KGMU, as 6 had been purchased three years ago. Two for the Department of Anaesthesia and three for the Trauma Centre. Ventilators are also available at department of general surgery and neurosurgery.
But as of today, none of these ventilators are functional. Those at General Surgery Department is defunct after a short circuit in 2003. The same is the condition of ventilator of the neurosurgery department.
The tale of ventilator at Trauma Centre is far interesting, as they could not even be started. Here the cause was lack of staff.
When Vice-Chancellor of KGMU Prof Mahendra Bhandari was asked about this problem at the press conference on Thursday, he said the process to upgrade the facility was underway. “Things were in bad shape since decades. We are in process of upgrading them but it will take time,” he said.