Mumbai: 7 ventilators at Nair Hospital non-functional

Seven ventilators in one of the three major civic-run hospitals — BYL Nair Hospital are not working for six months. According to the medical authority, they have started a process to solve the technical glitches related to non-functioning of the ventilators.

A recent Right To Information (RTI) filed by the RTI activist Chetan Kothari revealed the number of ventilators not working in the BYL Nair Hospital. Out of the seven non-functional ventilators, five of the ventilators are located in the Medical Intensive Care Unit (MICU) ward of the hospital. The RTI reply states that out of the seven ventilators, in five ventilators, O2 sensors are not working. While in others, compressors are not working.

RTI activist, Chetan Kothari, said, "Nair Hospital is one of the major civic-run hospitals in the city. Civic hospitals have a lot of queue and patients waiting to get a bed with ventilator support. Even if the number of the nonfunctional ventilator is a handful, it is still a major concern looking at how relatives run from pillar to post to get beds with a ventilator support system to save their patients' lives."

According to the hospital authority, they are in the process to start the non-functional ventilators soon.

Dr RN Bharmal, Dean of BYL Nair Hospital, said, "Due to a technical problem from the engineer's end, we were not able to maintain the functioning of the ventilators but the maintenance process is going on. The company technicians have been informed. Soon they will be functional. Purchase of O2 sensor is also in process."