Kerala: Patient left waiting for spare ventilator

KOTTAYAM: A patient  suffering from breathing difficulty,  who was shifted from a private hospital at Thiruvalla to the MCH here on Wednesday,  had to wait in the ambulance  for over four hours due to the lack of a spare ventilator in the MCH.  The doctors at the private hospital had told the relatives of the patient that medical colleges will have ventilator facility all the time. The plight suffered  by the   patient,  N.K. Saaidharan Pillai, 58, of Pandalam,  was explained to DC  by his daughter Salini on Friday.

Pillai, who had breathing difficulty due to a neurological deficit, was undergoing treatment at the Believers Church hospital at Thiruvalla. However, he was shifted to the Kottayam medical college hospital  on Wednesday as the family could not afford the huge expenses. Salini  said that the doctor who administered treatment to her father at the Thiruvalla hospital told her  that the MCH will have a full- time ventilator facility.   “He told us that there was no need to ring up the MCH about arranging a ventilator,”  she said.

Pillai was brought to the MCH by 4 p.m. and had to wait in the ambulance with ventilator facility till 8.30 p.m.  The MCH authorities told  Pillai' s relatives that they don't have a spare ventilator as the existing ones were  engaged.   Pillai has been  shifted to the ICU and he can now breath without ventilator facility.  Dr R Renjin, RMO of the Kottayam MCH hospital told DC that the Believers Church hospital authorities hadn't alerted the MCH on shifting of the  patient who needed ventilator support, which they should have done when a hospital is to refer a patient to the MCH.

Meanwhile Winnie Elizabeth Johnson, PRO of the Believers Church hospital told DC that while the hospital authorities used to call them previously, since the MCH authorities used to come up with excuses against assurance regarding the ventilator facility citing increase in patient arrivals, they had stopped calling them anymore.