Bengaluru: Amid the pandemic’s second wave, Karnataka has received 2,913 ventilators from the Centre to treat Covid patients in hospitals across the state, an official said on Sunday.
“The state has received 2,913 ventilators from the Central government – 2,025 in Phase 1 and 888 in Phase 2 so far. All ventilators from Phase 1 have been installed in district hospitals (578), state-run medical colleges (574), taluk hospitals (708) , composite healthcare centres (24) and private hospitals (141),” an official from the Chief Minister’s Office in a statement here.
Of 888 ventilators in the second phase, 712 have been installed and the remaining 176 will be used as per need.
In view of the surge in positive cases and increasing admission of severe Covid patients into ICUs, 2,737 ventilators are in use. Demand for additional ventilators will be met as per the need in any hospital.
“Each taluk hospital has been given 50 oxygenating beds and 6 ventilators in their ICUs after the pandemic’s first wave,” the statement said.
Admitting that technical snags were detected in some of the ventilators installed in the hospitals, the official said the staff has been given helplines of vendors for servicing the machines at any time.
“When ventilators are installed in the hospital, the technical staff are given a demo to operate and an online facility for rectifying snags, if any,” said the official.
The state Health Department has also supplied ventilators to private hospitals, as they have been directed to reserve 80 per cent of their beds to treat Covid patients referred by the government doctors.
In a related development, city-based German auto-component major Bosch has offered to repair ventilators in Covid hospitals free of cost, Deputy Chief Minister C.N. Ashwath Narayan said.
Company Vice President Ramesh Saligrama said ventilators with snags would be repaired as part of its corporate social responsibility.
