Ventilators sent by PM Care lying unattended in premier hospitals
Lack of staff and technicians in several government hospitals in Telangana is creating a serious situation of stocked up ventilators
HYDERABAD: Lack of staff and technicians in several government hospitals in Telangana is creating a serious situation of stocked up ventilators and other medical supplies not being able to be put to use and eventually turning waste.
This is stated by functionaries of the Healthcare Reforms Doctors’ Association (HRDA).
Speaking to Deccan Chronicle, association president Dr K Mahesh Kumar said there existed a shortage of medical staff even as the state has the necessary infrastructure. “We do not have a biomedical engineering wing attached to the health department to maintain and repair the in-stock ventilators. Many ventilators provided by the PM Cares fund need small repairs but we lack biomedical engineers to fix them.”
Many such costly machines are thus kept aside. These can be put to use if we fix the snags. Why can’t we engage biomedical experts? More important than buying more machines is to maintain and use the ones that are available,” said Kumar.
Corroborating this, Dr P.S. Vijayender, convener of the Telangana doctors’ federation, said regardless of the condition of unused ventilators, a biomedical department should be in place. “The state government took the services through contractors and they stopped work due to non-payment of fees. I heard that at Gandhi Hospital and in Telangana Institute of Medical Sciences (Tims), the medical equipment sent by PM Cares are kept unused due to lack of staff to operate them. While the management of Gandhi Hospital claims they have 10-20 ventilator beds available, “patients are asked to go to private hospitals upon arrival.”
Dr Kumar said according to his information, Tims has about 250 ventilators available but no staff to use them. “50 per cent work at a hospital is done by doctors by prescribing medicines and operating on them when it comes to treating a patient and the other 50 per cent is done by the nursing staff and ward boys. Due to staff crunch, the patient remains unattended.”
“Our demand is for these managements to fill all the posts, by either sanctioning them temporarily or hiring permanent employees,” concluded the HRDA president.