NEW DELHI: With the Indian government leaving no stone unturned in engaging start-ups and other manufacturers to bridge the demand-supply gap for ventilators, several healthcare experts said on Monday that the country was in a much better position vis-a-vis the vital equipment to tackle coronavirus.
Dr. Saurabh Sachar, a Senior Resident at Delhi’s Safdarjung Hospital’s Radiology Department told IANS: “We are well-equipped. We have enough buffer of ventilators right now at the hospital. Moreover, the ratio of people infected with coronavirus and people who require ventilators is very low. The government has scaled up manufacturing of this equipment. As of now, I don’t think we will reach a stage where we need to utilize all available ventilators or need more.”
He also said that, compared with many other countries, India is doing reasonably good in terms of handling COVID-19 pandemic. “India is certainly doing better than many other countries. If we compare our population with countries like Italy, Spain and even the United States, they have lesser population but their COVID-19 patients and mortality rates are much higher. However, there is always scope to do better. The situation is so-far so-good.”
He advised that religious congregations or similar activities should be strictly avoided, and people with other health issues, especially diabetes, should be taken care of.
“If people continue to follow social distancing and isolation, I don’t think this is a problem that we cannot come out of. People should avoid switching on air conditioners in this changing weather. If these things are followed, there are less chances that we will receive patients requiring ventilators,” said Dr Sachar.
According to the Health Ministry, less than 20 Covid-19 patients were on ventilator support till March 30. As against this, over 14,000 ventilators were identified in hospitals across the country for coronavirus patients at that particular time.
Speaking to IANS, Dr RV Asokan, Honorary Secretary General of the Indian Medical Association (IMA), said: “Although the exact count of ventilators is not available yet but when the count was last taken by the government, it was 15,000. But within 10 days, it has increased up to 30,000, as per my knowledge through informal sources.”
He said that the lockdown period had given the government time to prepare the healthcare sector for the unforeseen circumstances.
“India’s performance is quite impressive because many private sectors have also started manufacturing the equipment. By and large, if we reach community-level spread, India will be ready. The delay of the outbreak by 21-day lockdown has certainly helped. All experts agree that the pandemic may be slow here now, but may peak later, but by the time things will be in place,” said Dr Asokan.
IMA President Dr Rajan Sharma said that the pandemic had shown a downward trend worldwide on Monday. “Right now, the situation is manageable. Most people are in quarantine. Very few COVID-19 patients require ventilator support.” The Health Ministry said that 18 operational technology centres, autonomous bodies under the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME), are contributing in the fight against COVID-19.
MSME Technology Centre, Hyderabad is developing a prototype of ventilator based on sensors. The Central Tool Room and Training Centre (CTTC) in Kolkata is also developing a simple and low-cost ventilator system.
India has reported a total of 4,067 corona positive cases so far, of which 3,666 are active. As many as 109 COVID-19 casualties have been reported whereas 291 people have been cured and discharged, as per the Health Ministry data on Monday
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