9 ventilators not working at Kalawati Saran

According to the RTI reply dated August 22,of the six non-functional ventilators one is “non-repairable” while five are under repairs. The Paediatric Surgery department,in a reply dated September 5,said: “At present,there are six ventilators for use in the pediatric surgery ward (three ResMed transport ventilators,two Beer cub ventilators and one advent ventilator). Of these,two ResMed Transport ventilators are working while the remaining ventilators are out of order.”

Responding to a question on the status of ventilators in the past three years,the hospital authorities said,“There is no ready data available regarding non-functional status of ventilators during the past three years. However,whenever any complaint is received,prompt action is taken to inform the firm concerned and repair the ventilator.”

Stating that there was no evidence to co-relate that the condition of ventilators could “be directly attributed” to the mortality in the hospital,the reply said over 10,000 children died in the hospital in the past five years.

RTI applicant Rajhans Bansal said he had filed a complaint with the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC). “It is a specialised children’s hospital and if so many children are dying every year,it is shocking. I have filed a complaint with NHRC to take necessary action.”

Medical superintendent of the hospital Dr Anita Kulshrestha said the figures could be misleading. “The mortality rate needs to be examined in accordance with the admission rates. We are a tertiary care,referral centre so we get a lot of children often in serious condition. I have not been approached by NHRC yet on the issue.”

Dr Kulshrestha said since the time of filing the reply repair work on many of the ventilators had been completed. “As far as I know,in the ICU,only two ventilators are not working. I will have to check on the rest of the hospital’s ventilators,” she said.