Gandhinagar, May 20 (IANS): Amidst the growing issue of procurement of sub-standard ventilators, the Gujarat government on Wednesday stated that the ventilator 'Dhaman-1' gifted by the Rajkot manufacturers, fulfilled all the parameters and have performed satisfactorily in treating Covid-19 patients in the state. The government also claimed that looking at the quality and affordable prices, other states had also placed orders for procuring 'Dhaman-1' for their health care.
Informing the media, Jayanti Ravi, the principal secretary, Health and family welfare Department, Gujarat, said, "When the state was faced with the global crisis of Coronavirus and when there is a tremendous shortage of ventilators globally, the Rajkot firm came forward and offered to manufacture the ventilators and gift it to the state to treat Corona patients. The company also assured that the manufacturing will be carried out without compromising the required parameters set for ventilators."
"During the dire circumstances the state was facing, the Rajkot firm Jyoti CNC initially gifted 10 ventilators and has till date gifted 866 units totally free of cost to the state. Such indigenous products should be appreciated and encouraged," added Ravi.
"The benefits of having a local manufacturer was that, whenever we required any changes, modifications, or requirement from the machines or wanted some features to be added, the company promptly responded positively and made the necessary changes, a thing which is not possible with foreign imported products," added Ravi.
The health secretary also said that the product fulfilled the parameters for ventilator procurement by the central government's High Power procurement committee and was one of the 24 manufacturers which had received the approval for manufacturing by this committee.
"The Jyoti CNC product is at such an affordable price with quality, that it has received orders from other states as well. The Puducherry government has placed an order of 25 units and similarly a private donar has placed an order of 25 units for Maharashtra. The central government's HLL Lifecare has placed an order of 5,000 units of Dhaman-1," added Ravi.
The Congress has alleged that the product Dhaman-1 is not a ventilator according to the medicos treating the Corona patients in state's hospitals. It said that the product did not meet the expectations for a ventilator in Covid-19 critical patients.
The total number of Corona positive cases climbed to 12,141 in Gujarat. With one of the highest mortality rate of 5.9 per cent, Gujarat's death toll is 719 till Tuesday. Right now, there are 49 critical patients on ventilator in state's hospitals.