Staff crunch at Ferozepur Civil Hospital, seven ventilators gather dust
Anirudh Gupta
Ferozepur, April 27
While there has been an increase in the number of Covid cases and patients are grappling with shortage of oxygen in various parts of the state, seven new ventilators at the Civil Hospital have not been used due to shortage of trained manpower to operate them.
Out of these ventilators, five were provided by the state government last year and the other two by Ferozepur MP Sukhbir Singh Badal. Another ventilator was donated by a local NGO to the Civil Hospital last year, however, it was shifted to a private hospital, after it remained dysfunctional for a long time.
“Members of our NGO had donated money from their pockets to purchase the ventilator for the hospital. However, after gathering dust for months, it was shifted to a private hospital,” said Rajinder Malhotra, NGO president.
The NGO had provided Rs 5 lakhs to the Deputy Commissioner for the purpose. In the absence of functional ventilators, critical patients are either being referred to the Guru Gobind Singh Medical College, Faridkot, or to private hospitals, where the ventilators are available.
Some patients have to eventually move to Ludhiana or other towns for treatment. Sources said at least four trained persons were required to operate a single ventilator in three shifts with one person in surplus, and if all of them were to be made functional, almost 30 paramedics were required.
Dr Rajinder Raj, Chief Medical Officer, said she had written to the higher authorities regarding the shortage of manpower. “Hopefully, we will get additional trained staff soon,” she said.
As per information, around 250 ventilators were provided by the Central Government at an estimated cost of Rs 30 crore under the PM Cares Fund last year in March, but many of them were not being used and lying unpacked in the stores. Senior Health officials admitted there was an acute shortage of trained staff, who could operate the ventilators, but the process to recruit them had reportedly not been initiated.
