BEL will continue to provide all technical support required by State

New Delhi: According to some reports suggesting that the Government of India supplied ventilators (supported by PM CARES) to GGS Medical College and Hospital, Faridkot, Punjab is lying unused as a result of technical glitches which have not been resolved due to poor after-sales support by the manufacturers. These reports seem to be unfounded, not having the full information on the matter.

There are a few States which have received the ventilators but are yet to get these installed in their hospitals. Union Health Secretary has written to seven such States on 11th April 2021 which still have more than 50 ventilators lying uninstalled with them for the last 4-5 months. They have been requested to get the installation expedited so that the ventilators can be put to optimal use.

The recent report shows that Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) supplied 88 Ventilators and five by AGVA. BEL has informed that the bulk of the ventilators at GGS Medical College Hospital (GGSMCH), Faridkot are not faulty, as are being reported in a section of the media. Their engineers have visited the said Medical College on different occasions in the past to address the complaints received and carried out minor repairs required promptly. They have even conducted repeated demonstrations of the functioning of the ventilators to the staff over there.

Furthermore, BEL engineers visited GGSMCH again on 12th May 2021 and made five ventilators functional only by replacing a few consumables and demonstrated their optimum performance to the GGSMCH authorities, thereby, further making it evident that when operated properly, the ventilators will provide reliable performance.

It is clarified that BEL will continue to provide all the technical support required by the State in meeting the ventilator requirement during this pandemic situation.