Ventilator demand surges as Covid-19 cases rise in Delhi | Economic Times

New Delhi: Demand for ventilators has surged again as the number of Covid-19 cases continue to rise in the National Capital. The Centre has provided more than 160 ventilators in the last one week to the Delhi government besides adding additional beds with ventilatory support in Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Covid Hospital built by Defence research and Development Organisation (DRDO) in Delhi Cantonment and All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Delhi and Jhajjar, officials said. “In the last one week, 163 ventilators have been given to the Delhi government after we received a fresh demand from them,” a senior health ministry official said. Demand for ventilators was put up after a review meeting in the home affairs ministry.Additionally, chief minister Arvind Kejriwal has ordered immediate procurement of 1,200 BiPAP machines (a type of ventilator that helps push air into a patient’s lungs) for new ICU beds being added in Delhi this week. The machines will be procured immediately from the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) .The Centre has also provided 35 BiPAP machines to Delhi government, said the health ministry official quoted earlier. “With numbers soaring in Delhi, demand for ventilators have gone up,” the person said. “There was no demand from states for a while now. But suddenly there has been a spurt.” Another official said, “Even Gujarat has ordered 600 more ventilators in the last few days.” According to Delhi government’s corona app, only 223 ICU beds with ventilators were vacant as on Friday. There are a total of 1,478 ICU beds with ventilators in the capital. On Monday, Delhi health minister Satyendar Jain had attributed high Covid-19 death rate in the city to the pollution caused partly by stubble burning and said he expects a downtrend in the next two-three weeks. The city had recorded 5,475 fresh Covid-19 cases on Thursday and a positivity rate of 8.65%, while 91 more fatalities were reported. Hospital providers in Delhi are hopeful the number of cases would go down in the next few days. “We expect that Covid numbers may start to go down next week and the ICU occupancy may see a downfall,” a senior person with a private hospital told ET.