Thank u TOI for pointing our deficiency. Procured 125 new ventilators against existing 80. Installation likely in 15 -20 days https://t.co/2YcrrWY1Fh



— Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) December 12, 2016

NEW DELHI: Chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday congratulated TOI for highlighting the shortage of ventilators in hospitals and said new machines would be installed in 15-20 days. “Thank u TOI for pointing our deficiency. Procured 125 new ventilators against existing 80. Installation likely in 15 -20 days,” he tweeted.On Sunday also, a day after TOI had highlighted the problem, Kejriwal had taken note of it and pulled up health minister Satyendar Jain. However, one of the patients mentioned in the report headlined ‘Delhi hospitals low on life support’, Nizamuddin, died even before a ventilator could be arranged for him. He had been on ambu-bag support for four days after undergoing surgery for internal bleeding in the brain.Dr J C Passey, the medical director of Lok Nayak hospital, said the the 35-year-old was very sick and had a slim chance of survival. He, however, admitted that Nizamuddin needed full ventilator support.Passey also said that his hospital received 125 new ventilators of which 45 would be installed and the rest given over to other hospitals depending on requirement. These, Passey said, had been ordered before, but the delivery process was expedited due to Kejriwal’s intervention.Most government hospitals in Delhi are woefully short on life support systems. For instance, there are only 13 ventilators at Chacha Nehru Bal Chikitsalaya in Geeta Colony, east Delhi. Baba Saheb Ambedkar hospital in Rohini has only four. “Buying more ventilators alone will not help. We will need more nurses, intensivists (critical care physicians) and technicians to run them,” said the director of another prominent government hospital on condition of anonymity.Sources said the central government has also directed all hospitals under it to arrange for ventilators for the critically ill. “Use of ambu-bags is common in medicine and casualty wards. But we have been strictly told not to give them to patient’s attendants, except for emergency purposes or till the time a ventilator is arranged,” said a doctor.Safdarjung Hospital has 80 ventilators at present. It’s buying over 100 for the new emergency block, according to medical superintendent Dr A K Rai. Ram Manohar Lohia (RML) Hospital, another Centre-run hospital, is also about to buy new equipment.Experts say any tertiary care hospital with specialties such as neurosurgery, cardiac surgery and trauma care should have 10-20% beds reserved for intensive care unit with ventilator support. Ambu-bags, they add, should never be an alternative.