HYDERABAD: Pressure from ministers on the doctors of Gandhi Government Hospital in Secunderabad to cater to the patients referred by them is a reason for shortage of ventilators at the hospital.
And, shockingly, some ventilators are reserved for such patients and for those shifted from corporate hospitals.
Giving an account of the ground reality, a doctor said that they get calls from ministers asking patients referred by them to be treated.
“When patients run out of money, corporate hospitals send them to us. Ethically, once a patient is kept on ventilator, he should not be deprived of the facility even though the patient runs out of money,” said a doctor of the hospital, adding that they reserved some ventilators to cater to patients of both the categories.
Doctors said that the count of patients to be treated remained unpredictable. The hospital also has an Ebola isolation ward. Another doctor feared that if more number of Ebola suspected cases were to be admitted there, it might lead to a huge crisis as the ward has only a few ventilators.
“In extreme stages of Ebola, multiple organs fail and the patient needs ventilator support. This issue has to be addressed,” the doctor said.
The anaesthesia department has eight ventilators, all donated by one person. “We have enough ventilators. We had got them eleven years ago and they are nearing the end of their life span. We sent a proposal for ten ventilators,” said Dr P Upender Goud, head of the department.
Superintendent of the hospital Dr P Dhairyawan said they were treating all the patients and more number of ventilators would be procured in a month.