SHIMLA: The Union government has provided 500 ventilators to Himachal Pradesh in its ongoing fight against coronavirus, a senior Health department official said on Saturday.
Of these, 178 are transport ventilators and the remaining 322 are ICU ventilators, Additional Chief Secretary (Health) R D Dhiman said here.
The Centre has provided the ventilators free of cost to the state as Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur raised the issue of inadequate ventilators in a recent video conference with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan, he added.
Manufactured by Bharat Electronics Limited, the ventilators have been provided through HLL Lifecare Limited, Dhiman said.
The ventilators are being installed in medical colleges, district hospitals and other health institutions dealing with COVID cases, he added.
The medical staff is being trained to operate these ventilators, the official said.
The ACS said the state Health department would be able to fight COVID-19 more efficiently with these ventilators.
In case the number of COVID-19 patients increases, the ventilators will help in handling serious cases in a better way, he added.