KARACHI: Costly ventilators and incubators are not functioning at Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC)-run largest teaching hospital in the city, known as Abbasi Shaheed Hospital (ASH) for several months. However, the hospital management is unable to get repaired the out of orders equipment due to unavailability of funds, it was learned on Friday.
There are 37 ventilators in the health facility out of which only 11 are functioning while 26 others are lying out of order for several months. The hospital administration is unable to get repair them due to a shortage of funds.
Reportedly, there are 14 ventilators in the Medical Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of which only four are operational, while three out of 17 ventilators are functional in the Surgical Intensive Care Unit.
Three ventilators are functioning in Paeds Emergency out of installing four and only one ventilator is working at High Dependency Unit out of two.
A ventilator is a machine designed to move breathable air into and out of the lungs, to provide breathing for a patient who is physically unable to breathe, or breathing insufficiently.
The adult and peds critical patients are being referred to private and other government sector hospitals from the Abbasi Hospital due to a shortage of ventilators.
On the other hand, there 11 incubators in Paediatric Emergency Department of ASH out of which nine are functional. Two incubators are also operating at Paediatric Intensive Care Unit of the hospital.
The Incubator is an apparatus for maintaining an infant, especially a premature infant, in an environment of controlled temperature, humidity and oxygen.
ASH Medical Superintendent Dr Muhammad Anwer while talking to a news outlet said that the majority of ventilators and incubators are not operating or lying out of order due to a shortage of funds to get them repaired.
He said the ASH administration has already got repaired seven out of order ventilators in recent past and more would be repaired soon after the release of funds. He said the hospital urgently needs more ventilators and incubators to cater the increasing number of patients.
