Hyderabad, May 21 (IANS): Union Minister of State for Home Affairs G. Kishan Reddy on Friday said that the Centre has provided 1,405 ventilators to Telangana under the PM CARES Fund.

Reddy said these ventilators were dispatched to various government hospitals in the state.

Those hospitals which did not have even a single ventilator have also been provided with ventilators during this Covid pandemic, the Minister said.

He released a break-up of the ventilators provided to Telangana.

According to the list, the ventilators were made available to 46 hospitals in the state.

The highest number of ventilators (295) were provided to Gandhi Hospital in Hyderabad. Another 190 ventilators were given to Telangana Institute of Medical Sciences (TIMS) in Hyderabad. RIMS in Adilabad and MGM in Warangal were provided 100 ventilators each.

Referring to reports that many ventilators were lying unused in hospitals, Kishan Reddy demanded that staff with required skills to operate these ventilators should be recruited.

"It is a known fact that the government of Telangana is getting all sorts of aid and cooperation from government of India in order to control and contain the Covid pandemic through provision of oxygen cylinders, establishment of PSA oxygen plants, ventilators, vaccines, PPE kits, N-95 masks and free ration to the needy," the Minister said.

"In our country, since Independence until the past 8 months, we had only 1900 ventilators. They were also imported from different countries. But today through the initiative of Make in India, the government hospitals across the country have been provided with 51,000 ventilators from PM CARES funds," he added.

He pointed out the fault of the Telangana government in stopping Covid vaccination in the state.

"Vaccination was stopped a week ago and those due for a second dose are facing severe hardships."

He demanded that the Telangana government should not look into the issue from a political angle and vaccinate those due for their second dose.

Reddy on Friday flagged off a packaged food delivery service to Covid-19 patients and the needy in Hyderabad under the 'Seva hi Sangathan' programme of the BJP.