Gujarat:Video shows GMERS superintendent saying Dhaman-1 ventilators ‘not as good’, she denies

In a release issued later, the Congress enlisted the information received from both hospitals as well as the feedback of the doctors on Dhaman-1.

The Vadodara unit of the city Congress on Monday visited the SSG and Gotri Medical College where Covid-19 patients are undergoing treatment to “inquire into” the hospitals’ preparedness to handle the growing number of cases in the city as well as the availability of ventilators and infrastructure at the two civic hospitals.

The Congress leaders also met the Superintendent of GMERS Gotri, Dr Vishala Pandya, and released a video of the interaction in which Pandya is heard saying that the Dhaman-1 ventilators developed by Rajkot-based Jyoti CNC are “not as good as” the regular ventilators.

In a release issued later, the Congress enlisted the information received from both hospitals as well as the feedback of the doctors on Dhaman-1.

Congress city president Prashant Patel said, “We learnt that GMERS Gotri has about 150 ventilators in all while SSG hospital has 65 of which 15 are currently in the Covid-19 ICU ward. Of the 150 ventilators in Gotri, about 50 are Dhaman-1. The superintendent has said that they do not think the ventilators of the Rajkot firm are up to the mark and so they will first give patients the regular ventilators. Our reason for this visit was to check what the hospitals have to offer with the cases rising exponentially since the lockdown has been eased. This is not the time for any political bickering but we want to tell the government that regular ventilators cost about Rs 1 lakh each, it should be so difficult to procure a few hundreds for badly-hit cities.”

The Congress also released a video of their interactions with Dr Rajeev Daveshwar, Superintendent of SSG hospital, and Dr Pandya.

While Dr Daveshwar is heard saying that the hospital is yet to train its staff to use Dhaman-1, Gotri GMERS has already received training for its operations, Pandya told the Congress leaders. In the video she is heard saying, as a reply to a query from a member of the Congress party’s doctor cell, “They (Dhaman-1) are not so good so we will first give the good regular ventilators to patients, who need it. We will use others after that.”

Late on Monday evening, Dr Pandya issued a video statement denying that she expressed any views about the controversial Dhaman-1 ventilator. In her statement, Dr Pandya said, “The Congress leaders came to meet me as part of their visits to pay respect to corona warriors. During the conversation, they also asked me about Dhaman-1 but did not tell me that they were recording the video. Since we haven’t used the Dhaman-1 ventilators yet, we are not in the position to give any opinion about it. The video has been made public to create a controversy without my knowledge. I condemn this.”