In a major initiative by the Central government, as many as 35 "Made in India" ventilators have been provided to District Hospital Udhampur, under the Prime Minister's Citizens Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situation (PM CARES) fund in the fight against COVID-19.
Dr Vijay Raina, Medical Superintendent of the District Hospital, Udhampur told , "The government has provided ventilator support to all district hospitals, on short notice. We will install them shortly."
"Earlier ICUs with ventilators were available only in medical colleges. We use to refer to patients to other hospitals who have ventilators. When numbers started increasing, we faced difficulty when we had severely ill patients who need ventilator support. Now we can save them even here," he added.
The hospital superintendent thanked Centre for providing ventilators to district hospitals in a short span of time amid COVID-19 crisis.
"Out of every 100 patients who come here, around 90 of them are asymptomatic who can be treated at home. Earlier, we used to feel helpless while treating symptomatic patients who may experience breathing issues and high fever," said Dr Raina.
People of Udhampur visiting the district hospital also expressed their gratitude to the government for taking up this initiative.
"This is the biggest gift given by the Government of India to Udhampur district amid COVID-19 crisis. I would like to thank the government for their support. This will benefit the people of the district," said Ashish, a resident who visited the hospital.
"People from Udhampur were earlier referred to Jammu due to lack of ventilator facility but now ventilators have been made available in the district in a large number. It is a good initiative and I would like to thank the government for providing us with the ventilators to combat COVID-19," said another resident.
( With inputs from ANI )
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