Faulty ventilators were supplied to Maharashtra under PM CARES: Congress

A spokesperson of the Maharashtra unit of the Congress on Friday alleged the supply of ventilators for COVID-19 care was a "big scam".

Sachin Sawant tweeted a copy of a report by the Government Medical College in Aurangabad that claimed all 25 ventilators supplied to the institution under the PM CARES fund were defective.

Sawant tweeted, "Committee of Medical experts appointed by Govt Medical College Aurangabad found all ventillators provided under #PMCares to the institution useless. As per their report even company technicians could not repair those. It is big scam."

Sawant demanded an inquiry by the state government. He tweeted, "We demand state level inquiry into all ventillators provided by centre to Maharashtra. Time & public money wasted through #PMCaresFund is unpardonable. Modi govt made all corporate companies to donate in this opaque fund. It was seen that information under RTI can not be sought."

Sawant alleged "useless and defunct" companies got contracts under PM CARES. He tweeted, "Modi govt kept evading questions. Now after this report Ppl must know how & why such useless & defunct companies got this contract. It's inhumane to even think of profiteering let alone scam in this biggest ever crisis. Strongly condemn!"

The allegations by Sawant came a day after Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot demanded an investigation by the Union health ministry into allegedly defective ventilators supplied to the state under PM CARES.

"The Centre had made 1,900 ventilators available to the state from the PM CARES Fund. It was responsible for the installation and maintenance of these ventilators. According to doctors, many of these ventilators have technical shortcomings due to which using them can prove to be dangerous for patients," Gehlot said in a statement. He further said, "The doctors said that there is a pressure drop problem in these ventilators. These ventilators shut down after working for 1-2 hours continuously. There is a problem of sudden decrease in PIO2, failure of oxygen sensor and compressor."

On Wednesday, PTI quoted an official of the Punjab health department as saying 130 of the 809 ventilators supplied to the state were faulty.

Defective ventilators were supplied under PM CARES to the GGS Medical College and Hospital in Punjab’s Faridkot. On Thursday, the Union health ministry denied the claims the equipment supplied to Punjab was defective and attributed the malfunctioning of the ventilators to lack of infrastructure at the hospital.