Shortage of anaesthesia machines hits surgeries

Sunit Dhawan

Tribune News Service

Rohtak, June 10

Surgeries of patients undergoing treatment at the local PGIMS are being put off owing to the shortage of anaesthesia machines at the operation theatres of the institute for several months.

Documents in possession of The Tribune reveal that 12 Falcon Anaesthesia Machines had been declared condemnable by the Department of Anaesthesiology at the PGIMS in May, 2011.

Thanks to red tape, the said machines were declared unserviceable/condemned by the condemnation board of the institute in 2012-13. The tendering process for the auction of these machines was held in 2014.

The Deputy Medical Superintendent in charge of the PGIMS central store wrote to the head of the department of anaesthesiology on November 4, 2014, that the said equipment had been auctioned and could be struck off the stock register.

Sources maintained that the condemned anaesthesia machines continued to be used even after the auction. Finally, owing to internal pressure, the PGIMS/UHS authorities concerned disposed of the condemned machines.

Following that, to meet the shortage of equipment at the institute, a number of anaesthesia machines were shifted from the main operation theatres to the emergency operation theatres. However, the measure, adopted as a stop-gap arrangement, continues even after the passage of several months as new machines are yet to be procured.

Sources said in the process, the lives of thousands of patients undergoing surgeries with the help of condemnable/condemned anaesthesia machines were put in danger. Surgeries of a number of patients are still being postponed due to the limited machines being available at the PGIMS operation theatres, causing grave inconvenience and exposing them to health risks.

“Due to the shortage of anaesthesia machines, we have no option but to put off surgeries of the patients admitted to indoor wards,” said a PGIMS surgeon.

The Head of the Department of Anaesthesiology at the PGIMS, Dr Sarla Hooda, who is also the Registrar of the University of Health Sciences (UHS) here, refused comment on the matter, maintaining that they had been restrained from making statements before the media. She advised this correspondent to talk to the PRO.

The PGIMS Medical Superintendent, Dr Ashok Chauhan, stated that orders for new machines had been placed through the official channel and the matter was in process.

The institute authorities have, however, no reply to the question that who has to be held responsible for putting the lives of patients in danger by conducting surgeries with the help of condemned machines and for the inordinate delay in surgeries due to the shortage of equipment.