While no cases of COVID-19 have been reported in Jharkhand so far, the State might have a tough time dealing with severe cases of Coronavirus infections in case of an outbreak as the health machinery here lacks ventilators —a machine that provides mechanical ventilation by moving breathable air into and out of lungs —doctors warned on Monday.
However, a highly placed source in the Health Department here rubbished the claims, and said that the hue and cry over ventilators was a result of misconceptions among people. As per figures provided by the countries that are worst-affected by the pandemic, only two to three per cent of patients require to be put on ventilators, he said. “In order to use 200 ventilators, we will have to have around 10000 patients. Right now, we do not have a single case in Jharkhand,” he said.
The Jharkhand chapter of Indian Medical Association (IMA) claimed that the State may witness an explosion of cases due to the allegedly poor screening process in place, and it may run out of life-saving ventilators. “We may witness an explosion, a blast of cases here,” said Dr. Pradeep Kumar, President of IMA Jharkhand. “The shortage of ventilators has affected developed countries like the US and Italy. The only way we can tackle this pandemic is by not letting it reach a stage where ventilators are required,” he added.
According to figures with the Health Department, the State has a total of 232 ventilators as on March 30. Besides, Health Minister Banna Gupta has asked the Centre to provide 300 more ventilators in order to address medical exigencies, a close aide of the minister said on Monday.
Principal Secretary, Health Department, Nitin Madan Kulkarni said that the State was following all the guidelines laid down by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and paying attention to prevention at present. “We have 232 ventilators and we have placed orders for 300 more ventilators. All the guidelines of ICMR are being strictly followed here,” he said.
Ranchi Civil Surgeon Dr. VB Prasad said that there were around 175 ventilators – including the ones in private hospitals – in Ranchi alone, and cases requiring ventilation would be addressed. “We are trying our level best to be prepared for any medical emergency,” he said.
Meanwhile, doctors from IMA have also raised concern over the screening process in Jharkhand claiming that only a fraction of people traveling from other States were tested. “Only using a thermometer to check a traveler’s body temperature is eyewash in the name of screening. Proper tests should be conducted. So many labourers have come to Jharkhand from severely-affected States and they were sent home without any tests,” said Dr. Pradip Kumar.
According to sources in the Health Department, Jharkhand has around 4000 testing kits. At present samples are collected and tested only at two hospitals – Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) in Ranchi and Mahatma Gandhi Memorial (MHM) Hospital in Jamshedpur.
Samples of more than 200 suspected patients in Jharkhand have been tested so far and none of them came out positive, officials from the National Health Mission (NHM) said.
