Donation for Sassoon ventilator

The hospital had said they were facing fund shortage following which Jeevan Mitra Pratishthan,an NGO based in Vishrantwadi,handed over a cheque of Rs 1.5 lakh collected from citizens. Pratishthan has promised Rs 2.5 lakh.

The NGO handed over the cheque two days back. “After repair of the ventilator,we will pay the remaining Rs 1 lakh,” said Vinayak Deokar,founder-president of the Pratishthan. Deokar said after Newsline highlighted the deaths of 158 babies in Sassoon NICU,besides 300 intra-uterine (foetus) deaths,earlier this month,his volunteers had met dean Dr Renu Bharadwaj and extended help. “The hospital administration had said three ventilators required repairs and they needed funds for that,” he said.

Deokar said they contacted the hospital administration on Saturday. “They told us they needed Rs 1.5 lakh for getting one ventilator repaired. We are confused. First they tell us three ventilators are not working and now they say only one is not working. Whatever the case,we have promised Rs 2.5 lakh. We have already given Rs 1.5 lakh,” said Deokar.

Dr Bharadwaj said there seems to be some misunderstanding. “We needed to get one ventilator repaired,not three.” She said they needed four more ventilators in the NICU and hope to get two more from the government soon. Hospital sources said there was only one ventilator in the NICU against the requirement of 8-10. “And even this ventilator has not been functioning for long,” said doctors.

Dr Bharadwaj confirmed ventilator shortage. “The NICU ventilators are at present in PICU. We keep moving ventilators from one department to other as per requirement,” she said. Dr Umesh Vaidya,in-charge of KEM Hospital NICU,said ventilators are vital to save babies. “If there is no ventilator immediately after an operation,babies die,” said Vaidya.

Dr Bharadwaj said if NGOs wish to donate,they are welcome. “It will help us improve infrastructure in hospital as government budget is limited.”