J&K has been allocated 908 ventilators and Rs 143 crore under COVID emergency package so far.
Union minister of state for Health and Family Welfare in written reply to a question in the parliament stated that the central government has allocated 908 ventilators and Rs 143 crore as grant in aid under ‘India COVID-19 emergency response and health system preparedness package’.
The minister said that out of total allocated ventilators, 896 have been delivered so far. “Apart from this the central government has allocated 9.59 lakh N95 masks, 4.89 lakh PPE kits and 27.8 lakh HCQ tablets.”
However, according to official data, Jammu and Kashmir currently has approximately 500 ventilators for a population of over 1.35 crore.
Health department figures reveal that UT has a total of 21664 isolation beds, 432 ICU beds, and 5296 oxygen supported beds while some 342 ventilators are in transit and 1630 oxygen outlets are to be installed in the next two months.
The soaring number of COVID cases during this month has worried health experts with medicos complaining shortage of ventilators in some hospitals.
A senior medico at SKIMS informed that last night three non-COVID patients needed a ventilator. “But out of 12 ventilators for general category patients and 14 for surgical patients, not a single was available as all were occupied.”
“A female patient died who had suffered a heart attack. She was administered oxygen using an ammo bag,” the doctor said, adding that the COVID19 was pushing the healthcare infrastructure to the limit in J&K.