The Narendra Modi government at the centre ensured development of about 60000 ventilators in just one year. Team Bharat, with Twitter handle @TeamBharat_, put out a series of 23 tweets explaining the story with hashtag #CongressVentilatorConspiracy. Series of tweets in the same order:
Since the birth of Independent India, government hospitals had 16,000 ventilators till early 2020, just before Covid-19 pandemic hit. PM Cares ensured 58,850 ‘Make In India’ ventilators, three times the original number!
Between two deadly waves of Covid-19 pandemic, India developed 58,850 ‘Make in India’ ventilators in just 1 year, of which PM CARES was responsible for funding a stupendous 50,000 of them!
With no experience with ventilator production, amidst a global pandemic, the Modi government’s concerted efforts, policies, & perseverance has made a difference, producing 58,850 efficient ‘Make in India’ ventilators at 10% of the cost.
As soon as requests to check faulty ventilators were made by select state govts, Modi Government promptly called for an audit on the installation & operations of the ventilators provided by the central govt.
The audits revealed a massive no. of critical care machines lying unutilized & still packed in some states! The Union Health Secretary wrote to the state governments immediately to act on the equipment lying idle & sent technical support, too.
Punjab govt had received the first batch of 25 ventilators as soon as October 8, 2020 but death toll kept mounting. The audits revealed many ventilators labelled as ‘faulty’ were never even unpacked!
In a letter written by Rajesh Bhushan, Union Health Secretary, to Vini Mahajan, Secretary Govt of Punjab, it was asked why 251 ventilators out of total 809 ventilators allocated to the Punjab Govt were not in use.
A ventilator needs precise oxygen pressure & connectors to make them functional. But negligence by state governments led those to be falsely tagged as faulty, instead of checking these conditions.
It was the Centre’s responsibility to provide the ventilators during the surge in cases which it did. But it was the states’ responsibility to procure the connectors for connecting oxygen systems to those ventilators & ensuring installation.
The state-run medical facilities’ negligence of change in consumables of the ventilators including the patient tubing & oxygen flow sensors has also added to the poor performance of the ventilators.
Punjab’s mismanagement of ventilators provided by the centre left the state gasping for oxygen.
The Modi govt. facilitated fastest production of #MakeInIndia ventilators wherein BEL, Agva, JyotiCNC & AMTZ came forward but in vain as States didn’t change flow & O2 sensors, recalibrate the pressure to suit geographical location as required.
The PM CARES Fund had allotted 119 ventilators to the Guru Nanak Dev Hospital in Amritsar, Punjab. But a report found that the hospital staff had left the ventilators in the corridor rather than ICU, unattended & uninstalled.
The Guru Nanak Dev hospital-Amritsar had labelled the 119 ventilators allocated to them as ‘faulty’ but when AgVa Healthcare service engineer reached there, he found out the ventilators were never installed & several vital parts were missing.
Shocking revelation from Guru Gobind Singh Medical College & Hospital, Punjab was made by the BEL engineers who mentioned in their reports how the hospital failed to use the ventilators due to unchanged consumables for long periods of time.
A BEL technician showed how 62 ventilators allotted to the Guru Gobind Singh Medical College & Hospital, Punjab were kept in the storeroom as scrap & the reason for poor performance was inadequate oxygen supply running in the hospital.
The President of Jyoti CNC, P.G. Jadeja, addressed the media & explained how some hospitals have failed to utilize the ventilators due to state’s neglect.
Similarly, the Central Govt. had issued 5324 ventilators to Maharashtra, highest to any state, of which 5062 are in use & 262 lying unused. Shockingly, Maharashtra govt. has no justification for this grave neglect which costed precious lives!
In a report released for the allocation of the ventilators to the states from 7th April onwards, it was found out that the state of Chhattisgarh had received a batch of 35 ventilators, none of which were installed at all.
The govt. of Rajasthan is solely responsible for endangering lives of its marginalised citizens wherein it leased out a huge no. of the ventilators received from central govt, to private hospitals, warming the pockets of the officials.
From 10000s of ventilators in one year to an oxygen plant in every district, Indian govt. has left no stone unturned to support the nation & its people dealing with Covid-19 pandemic. India’s efforts are inspiring!
But the negligence by select states is heart-breaking and eye-opening! We all now clearly know who stands with the nation and who will stoop to any low for power and greed.
Not to forget, India govt. allocated a whooping no. of 1245 ventilators on priority to West Bengal of whom 141 were unused, risking lives and wasting critical efforts.
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