The Congress on Sunday demanded a judicial probe into the use of a ventilator on Covid-19 patients in Gujarat that, it said, has not been approved by the DCGI. It alleged the mortality rate was highest at the hospital where these machines were installed. The party alleged that the low vulnerable quality ventilators were provided under CSR funds by the same businessman who had donated the Rs 11-lakh suit worn by Modi during the visit of the then US President Barrack Obama.
The Congress also lashed out at the Gujarat Government over the State’s alleged "sick healthcare system" and targeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah on the issue.
The party said almost six weeks after Dhaman-1 ventilators were installed at Ahmedabad Civil Hospital on April 4, doctors there sought more ventilators claiming these machines did not work on patients and were not capable.
Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera alleged the machines were donated under CSR funds by a company in which a Surat-based businessman, who donated the monogrammed suit to Prime Minister Narendra Modi which was worn by him during former US President Barack Obama’s visit to India, has a stake.
The Dhaman-1 ventilator has been developed by Rajkot-based firm Jyoti CNC which “donated” 866 of them to the State Government last month in view of acute shortage of the machines, according to senior Gujarat government official.
A row erupted when the Ahmedabad Civil Hospital wrote to the Government, stating that the ventilators were not up to the mark, and sought sophisticated machines.
Khera alleged the Vijay Rupani government projected the mechanised AMBU (Artificial Manual Breathing Unit) bag as ventilator, “playing with the lives of patients.”
“Why was Dhaman-1 approved and installed when it had been tested on just one patient? Why was Dhaman-1 approved and installed without a licence by DCGI (Drug Controller General of India),” he asked.
“We also want to know if the PM Cares Fund was used to buy 5,000 pieces of Dhaman-1 through HLL Lifecare. All these answers can only be found through an independent judicial inquiry,” Khera said.
Training his guns on Chief Minister Rupani, he asked why Gujarat had “such shocking data” on COVID-19 patients as 11 per cent of the total coronavirus cases in the country were in the state, but 22 per cent of the deaths related to COVID-19 in the country were from Gujarat.
“Why this high mortality? Why the high mortality in Ahmedabad in particular? Why the highest mortality is in the civil hospital, where these machines were installed,” he asked.
He asked why Dhaman-1 was marketed within and outside the state as a “ventilator when it is not a ventilator.” The Congress leader asked why was Dhaman-1 allowed to be sold to other states and why was HLL Lifecare, a PSU, allowed to order 5,000 pieces.
Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi said: "Today, we don't have a healthcare system (in the state); we have a sick system. The inefficiency of the Gujarat Government in handling Covid crisis shows that it is undermining, under-confident, and under-achieving."
"It is my sad duty to bring to the country''s attention the deplorable and indefensible plight of medical and health facilities in Modi''s home state and in part of Shah''s constituency (4 assembly segments of Ahmadabad fall in Gandhinagar parliamentary constituency)."
Singhvi, Rajya Sabha member, said: "We would respectfully ask the PM, HM, GOI, and Gujarat CM -- Are you even aware of what is happening in your own home state? If so, have you ever intervened, chastised or punished the Gujarat government or does the latter have Covid immunity vaccine because they belong to the BJP?"
Singhvi said if such powerful people who control the levers of power were unable to provide justice on their home ground to the poor and needy, what could the rest of India''s teeming millions expect from them.
The Congress leader referred to Gujarat High Court observations on the "lack of PPE, shortage of ventilators, ICUs and isolating wards..." and "pathetic" conditions at the Civil Hospital, Ahmedabad.
He said that even the High Court had observed that state Health Minister "does not seem to be aware of what is going on, nor appears to have ever visited the hospital".
The party also questioned why private testing of coronavirus suspected cases, even by authorised private institutions, was stopped by the Gujarat government which ordered that cornan tests can be conducted only at government hospitals.
Singhvi pointed to "proactive" role of the Bengal Governor but the "silence" of the Gujarat Governor on coronavirus situtations in their respective States.
