Defective Ventilator provided under PM CARES, Bombay HC demands Centre for explanation

  • | Wednesday | 26th May, 2021

Observing that the malfunctioning of a lifesaving instrument could put lives of patients in danger, the court on Tuesday, May 25, directed Assistant Solicitor General Ajay G. Talhar to inform it about the correctional methods the Centre would adopt in case the ventilators are found to be defective. 

Taking serious note of the defective ventilators provided under the PM-CARES Fund to hospitals in the Marathwada region in Maharashtra, the Aurangabad bench of the Bombay high court has asked the Centre to explain how it will address the issue. Of the 150 ventilators made available to several hospitals in the region, at least 113 have been found to have defects. The court, presided by the division bench of Justices Ravindra V. Ghuge and Bhalchandra U. Debadwar, asked the Centre for remedial measures to address the situation in the region.

The court, hearing a suo motu PIL based on media reports, also expressed its concern over the impact the defective ventilators had on patients who used them. Of the two defects, the court observed that the instances where “patients becoming hypoxic” when on ventilator could be “life-threatening”.

 

These defective ventilators were manufactured by a company named Jyoti CNC and the model is called ‘Dhaman III’. Among the total ventilators, as many as 17 were deployed in the Government Medical College and Hospital, Aurangabad. Of them, six sets had developed serious flaws. Around 37 others available with the GMCH were yet to be “unboxed”. The dean of GMCH informed the court that since the existing ones were already seriously malfunctioning, new sets were not unboxed.

“We find a serious issue before us as regards the defective functioning of the ventilators. Except for the 37 ventilators which are yet to be un-boxed, 113 ventilators put to use are found to be defective,” the court observed. The court also added that while it appreciated that the Central ministry has made ventilators available, faulty machines would only increase health risks to the patients. “…let the government realise they had supplied inferior quality ventilators, let them go back and replace them with certain good quality ventilators. If the PM-CARES Fund is to be used for providing ventilators, it should be ventilators worthy of medical use, if they aren’t worthy of medical use, it is just a box,” the high court orally observed.

 


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