New Delhi: In a shocking development, it has come to light that a government hospital in Bharatpur of Rajasthan has leased out 20 of its ventilators to a private hospital, citing ‘abundance or non-usage’.
Bharatpur’s Rai Bahadur hospital leased ventilators provided by PM-CARES Fund to Jindal private hospital, reports said.
This comes at a time when Coronavirus has been running on rampage across the state and people are desperately searching for life-saving drugs and treatment. Long queues and chaos outside hospitals for oxygen support, emergency Covid treatment is a harsh reality in the state.
The ventilators provided under PM CARES Fund could have been used for providing free & subsidized treatment to Covid patients but leasing them out to private hospitals raises serious questions. BJP MP Rajya Vardhan Rathore accused the Congress govt. of Rajasthan for not using the aid received by PM-Cares Fund properly.
The private hospital is now allegedly charging Rs 35,000-40,000 per patient for the usage of the ventilator, reports said.
BJP MP Rajya Vardhan Singh Rathore raised the the issue, putting the Gehlot government in dock over its callousness and indifference towards saving lives of Covid patients. He also demanded an enquiry in the fiasco.
The BJP MP informed that 10 ventilators which were sent to Bharatpur by PM-Cares fund are not being used at the Rai Bahadur Govt. Hospital, instead they have been rented to a private hospital by the state govt.
Rathore released a video on his Twitter account saying, “The ventilators sent to Bharatpur are not being used at the Rai Bahadur Hospital, instead the State govt. has rented them to a private hospital for a charge of Rs. 2000 per day. The ventilators which were to be used for saving lives of patients free of cost, now those people are paying Rs,50,000 to save the lives of their loved ones.”
राजस्थान में PM CARES Fund से आये वेंटीलेटर या तो डिब्बों में बंद पड़े हैं या निजी अस्पतालों में पहुँच गए हैं – जहाँ उनके इस्तेमाल के लिए आपको लाखों रुपये चुकाने होंगे।
क्या सरकारी वेंटिलेटर निजी अस्पताल को किराये पर देना सही है?
और अगर नहीं तो जगाइए राजस्थान सरकार को! pic.twitter.com/nS0vFjF0T3— Col Rajyavardhan Rathore (@Ra_THORe) May 9, 2021
Unfazed Rajasthan Minister defends ‘renting out’ ventilators
What’s more shocking and astonishing is the fact that Rajasthan Minister has defended the move to lease out PM CARES ventilators to private hospitals. Such apathy and ignorance of public health amenities during Covid times speaks volumes about apathy of Gehlot government.
#राजस्थान के मंत्री है! pic.twitter.com/J7jBxWnz2N
— Ankit Tiwadi (@ankittiwadi) May 11, 2021
In an interview with TV9 Rajasthan, State’s Transport Minister Pratap Singh Khachariyawas defending this decision of the local bodies as he sayd,”In Bharatpur, they have rented the ventilators. They have rented them not given them for free. They had extra ventilators which they rented as private hospitals are also treating the patients of COVID-19.”
Khachariyawas also accused the Central govt. for their ‘biased’ distribution of medical oxygen. He also said that “last time the distribution of oxygen was under the state governments’ jurisdiction and there was no shortage at the time but this time Central govt. took charge of oxygen management which has led to so many deaths across the country.”
As of date, Rajasthan has 1,99,307 active COVID cases, 5,33,973 recovered cases and 5506 fatalities.
