Keypoints:
- The Centre, in its affidavit defended the company which supplied faulty ventilators.
- Bombay HC questioned the Central government as to whether it was concerned about the lives of Covid patients.
On Friday, the Bombay High Court questioned the Central government as to whether it was concerned about the lives of Covid patients. In its affidavit, the Centre defended the company which supplied faulty ventilators, but did not say anything about the remedial measures it was going to take in order to address the issue of defective and dysfunctional ventilators received by the Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH), Aurangabad from the Centre.
The Centre’s affidavit also raised a doubt on the efficiency of technicians and doctors at GMCH, Aurangabad by claiming that around 3,000 ventilators were functioning properly which were provided to other states, the court observed.
The bench comprised of Justice Ravindra Ghuge and Justice Bhalchandra Debadwar who were hearing a suo moto criminal Public Interest Litigation (PIL) which was initiated by the High Court after the news reports pointed to shortage of Remdesivir and oxygen along with improper facilities and plight of patients who could not afford treatment of Covid and black fungus infection, improper bed management in hospitals, profiteering by ambulance service providers, among others.
The bench also had taken note of the news reports which stated that 113 of the 150 ventilators received by the GMCH, Aurangabad under the PM Cares Fund were not working properly. Hospitals and doctors refused to use it as it posed threat to the lives of Covid patients. On May 25, the bench had asked Centre to respond.
It was on Friday that the Centre submitted its response in which it stated that the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare had purchased those ventilators and categorically denied that they were purchased through the PM Cares Fund.
Ajay Talhar, who is the assistant solicitor for the Centre said that the ventilators which were manufactured by Rajkot based company were not faulty as there were no complaints about the 3,000 ventilators supplied by the company to other states. He also said that 113 ventilators had malfunctioned as the doctors and technicians had not followed instructions while making the ventilators operational.
“Are you holding the brief for the company? Are you not concerned about the lives of the citizens?”, the court said while expressing shock at the submissions.
“We expected you to say that you will take immediate steps and ask the company to address the issue and ensure that proper installation of the ventilators was done along with imparting training to the hospitals on using them. But you seem to be more interested in defending the company,” the bench added.
Further, the bench questioned as to whether the Centre and the company had studied to know if GMCH had the proper infrastructure in place for receiving and installing the ventilators, as it had read a report in which it stated that the dean of GMCH had refused to take delivery of the ventilators and it was only after the intervention of the collector that the same was accepted.
ASG Talhar submitted that MoHFW would take all remedial steps in order to ensure that the ventilators operate normally and all defects, if any, would be rectified.
“We would also appreciate if MOHFW refrains from questioning reports of medical experts and instead respects such reports in the larger interest of the society for rectifying the said machines,” said the bench.
