MADURAI: Six months after Government Rajaji Hospital (GRH) was caught in the eye of a storm due to alleged malfunction of ventilators that reportedly led to deaths of three patients who were on life support, the hospital has now received 18 new ventilators which are being installed at various Intensive Care Units (ICUs). The installation process is going on for the last 10 days.
In an order dated August 21, Tamil Nadu Medical Services Corporation (TNMSC) sanctioned the installation of 81 new ventilators (with compressors) in various government hospitals across the State at a cost of Rs 6.54 crore.
Accordingly, GRH was allotted 16 ventilators, Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital in Chennai was allotted 24 ventilators, Chengalpet Medical College Hospital 15 and Coimbatore Medical College Hospital two new ventilators. In a subsequent order by TNMSC, GRH was sanctioned two additional ventilators besides the 16 equipment.
On November 5, GRH received 18 new ventilators and they are being installed at the hospital's ICUs. Of them, 11 were installed at the Trauma Care Centre (TCC) block (six at ward number 99 and five at ward number 101) and one at ICU in the department of Surgical Oncology. "The remaining six ventilators will be installed at the ICUs of a few other departments in the coming days," said hospital sources.
"Usually, the hospital receives two or three ventilators at a time, based on its request on need-basis. This time, 18 ventilators, each costing Rs 8.08 lakh, were directly sanctioned by TNMSC for strengthening the Tamil Nadu Accident and Emergency Care Initiative (TAEI) programme," they added.
The controversy:
May 7: Three patients - G Ravindran (52) of Srivilliputhur, M Mallika (58) of Melur and P Palaniammal (60) of Ottanchathiram - on ventilators at ward number 101 (Neuro Intensive Care Unit) in the TCC block at GRH died in a span of 15 minutes during power outage caused by heavy rain.
During the power outage, the two generators at the block failed midway due to technical snag and the relatives of the deceased alleged that "the ventilators stopped functioning during the power outage, thereby disrupting the oxygen supply. As a result, the patients suffocated to death."
May 8: Refuting the allegations, the then Dean Dr K Vanitha said the trio was already in a critical condition and the time of deaths was a coincidence. She said that the ventilators, which were equipped to function for a maximum of two hours using battery backup in the absence of power supply, worked at the time of power failure.
May 9: State Human Rights Commission in Chennai initiated suo motu cognizance of the incident. Also, a Public Interest Litigation was filed at the Madurai Bench of Madras High Court. On the same day, GRH management began to fast-track the installation of 17 Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) inverter devices that were lying idle at the hospital for over two months. The UPS devices were supplied to the hospital based on a Government Order dated December 21, 2018 through which the Department of Health and Family Welfare had sanctioned installation of 164 UPS power backup devices at 30 government hospitals across Tamil Nadu at a cost of Rs 9.27 crore.
May 28: Taking the report submitted by Dr Vanitha on May 14 into record, Health Secretary Beela Rajesh said that the deaths were not related to power failure and that no further inquiry was required.
June 3: Sensitisation programme for the hospital's staff nurses to fine-tune their knowledge of handling ventilators commenced. The one-day programme was held in batches, for about a week.