‘What action is proposed against the company?’
MUMBAI: The Aurangabad bench of the Bombay high court (HC) on Tuesday directed the Centre to inform it about the action proposed to be taken against the supplier who provided 150 ventilators through the Prime Minister (PM) Cares Fund after news reports stated that 113 ventilators which were unboxed turned out to be defective.
The bench took serious cognisance of the issue and sought to know from the Centre as to what remedial steps it proposed to take to address the issue as the ventilators were to be used in government and private hospitals in the Marathwada region.
A division bench of justice Ravindra Ghuge and justice Bhalchandra Debadwar was hearing the suo motu public interest litigation (SMPIL), instituted after news reports pointed to issues pertaining to shortage of medical oxygen supply, black marketing of Remdesivir, funeral rites of Covid-19 patients and the inability of the common man to foot the huge bills for treating the black fungus infection, among others. Amicus curiae Satyajeet Bora submitted news reports which stated that 113 of the 150 ventilators provided through the PM Cares Funds were non-functional.
Chief public prosecutor DR Kale representing the state informed the bench that the ventilators were manufactured by a company named Jyoti CNC with model name DHAMAN- III. He submitted that dean of Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH), Aurangabad had deployed 17 ventilators. However, the ventilators developed serious flaws which would impact treatment of patients.
The bench was further informed that 55 ventilators were distributed to Hingoli, Osmanabad, Beed and Parbhani districts and 41 ventilators were allotted to private hospitals asking them not to claim ventilator charges from patients. The remaining 37 ventilators with the GMCH were yet to be unboxed.
The bench said, “The company (Jyoti CNC) should not get away with this. It is the state exchequer money, it’s not bounty to be distributed.” The bench has posted hearing of the suo motu PIL on May 28.