BHUBANESWAR: As many as 420 ventilators allocated to Odisha by the Centre are gathering dust even as a steady number of deaths continue to be reported with patients either failing to access ICU or ventilator support. As per the information laid down by Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare Ashwini Kumar Choubey on the floor of Rajya Sabha, of the allocated 567 ventilators from PM Cares Fund, State Government has installed 147 ventilators till September 14.
Currently, the State has one ventilator, three ICU beds, and 62 general beds for one lakh population in Covid facilities developed in collaboration with private entities. Sources said the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare Department had asked States to submit their indent based on the numbers of case, trend of pandemic and requirement. Accordingly, 32,109 ventilators were allocated to various states. While Maharashtra bagged maximum 4,434 ventilators, followed by Andhra Pradesh (3,960), Gujarat (2,500), Karnataka (2,015) and Uttar Pradesh (2,000), states like Assam, Bihar and Odisha which have poor health infrastructure received 1,000, 500 and 567 ventilators respectively.
With a daily test positivity rate of around 10 per cent, Odisha is among the top 10 states fuelling the new infections in the country. The State is among the bottom few in terms of health infrastructure. “It is shocking to know that the State Government has failed to install more than 400 ventilators. Several critical patients often succumb to diseases or accidents due to a lack of timely critical care. In the pre-COVID period, we were among the few states having less than 500 ventilators. When the Centre is ready to support us with medical equipment, we should take advantage of it,” said a member of the technical experts’ committee.
Odisha has around 27,310 general beds, including 8,310 in dedicated COVID hospitals (DCHs) and rest in Covid Care Centres (CCCs) besides, 1,362 beds in ICUs and 526 ventilators. Additional Chief Secretary of Health department PK Mohapatra said the ventilators supplied by the Centre will be installed as and when required. “The State Government had already purchased 287 and private organisations had provided 200 more before ventilators from the Centre reached Odisha. However, all will be installed once more facilities are developed,” he clarified.
Not only the infrastructure and medical equipment, shortage of doctors also cripples the healthcare services as there is one doctor for every 5,446 people which is lower than the national average of 1:1457 and WHO norm of 1:1000. Although around 8,023 MBBS doctors and 4,014 AYUSH practitioners were engaged in Covid duty, a significant number of doctors are in isolation after getting infected and the Ayurvedic physicians have been deployed at some key areas due to lack of sufficient number of medical graduates.