Behind Ahmedabad's Ventilator Controversy, a Backstory of Connections to Top BJP Leaders

 

The Narendra Modi government is procuring 5,000 ventilators from a Rajkot-based firm which has already been accused of supplying breathing machines to Ahmedabad’s largest COVID-19 hospital that doctors there say are not up to the mark. The firm’s current and former promoters have had close associations with top BJP leaders – with at least one business family, The Wire has established, linked to the controversial gift of an expensive suit to Prime Minister Modi. This procurement is being done through state-run HLL Lifecare, according to Gujarat’s principal health secretary Jayanti Ravi. It is also possible that the purchase is being supported by financial resources provided by the PM Cares Fund, which said earlier this month that it was spending Rs 2,000 crore for the purchase of 50,000 “made in India” ventilators. Over the last few weeks, a harsh spotlight has been turned on hundreds of ‘Made in India’ ventilators that were supplied free of cost to Ahmedabad civil hospital by Jyoti CNC Automation Ltd, whose chairman-cum-managing director, Parakramsinh Jadeja, is seen in the state as being close to chief minister Vijay Rupani.

 

 

As the Ahmedabad Mirror first reported on May 19, these “ventilators” have proved so inadequate when used on COVID-19 patients that the Ahmedabad civil hospital, the largest COVID-19 hospital in the state, was forced to put out an SOS for actual ventilators weeks after taking delivery of Jyoti CNC’s machines. The machines, called ‘Dhaman-1’, were aggressively promoted by the Gujarat government and marketed as a “glorious achievement”.

 

On May 18, the Ahmedabad Mirror reported how doctors in the city’s biggest government hospital had told the Gujarat government to urgently order proper ventilators since the ones given by Jyoti CNC were not “showing desired results” on COVID patients. Ahmedabad district has recorded the second highest number of coronavirus deaths in the country at around 600. The machines, according to the newspaper, were strongly endorsed by Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani who claimed this cheap ventilator was designed and produced in 10 days. Rupani’s enthusiasm, however, has not been backed by Gujarat’s government doctors.

 

“Luckily, until now, we used these ventilators [made by Jyoti CNC] on very few occasions, as high-end ventilators were available with us in enough numbers. Dhaman-1 is not a good replacement for high-end ventilators, but it can be used in dire emergency when you have nothing else at hand,” Civil Hospital head of anaesthesia Shailesh Shah told news agency PTI, and added that with the number of coronavirus patients increasing, it would not be a good idea to depend on the Dhaman-1 units. So far, 900 of these ventilators have been installed in the state, with 230 alone in the Ahmedabad civil hospital. The opposition Congress has demanded a judicial inquiry into the matter, claiming that the state government intentionally endangered the lives of people by passing off mechanised ambu bags as ventilators. The party is also asking how many of the over 300 deaths in the hospital were of patients who had been put on these ventilators.

 

Ahmedabad Mirror has also reported that these ventilators did not have a license from the Drug Controller General of India and were installed after only one person was tested on it before Rupani launched it on April 5. Both the chief minister and his deputy, Nitin Patel were present when the machine was tested on a patient. Rupani, the newspaper says, stepped out of his citadel only once during the whole lockdown and that was to inaugurate these machines at the Civil Hospital in Ahmedabad. After the controversy broke out, the Gujarat government claimed it never described Jyoti CNC’s product as a ventilator but its own press release on the machine referred to it as a “ventilator” nine times and called it a “glorious achievement” which would “add a new feather” to Modi’s “dream campaign of Make in India”. The hype around these “ventilators” led to some state governments ordering them as part of their COVID-19 preparation measures. On May 20, however, Puducherry chief minister V. Narayanasamy tweeted that his Union Territory was canceling the orders it had given for the Dhaman-1 machines.

 

On the same day, May 20, Gujarat health secretary Jayanti Ravi came out in strong defence of the machines, stating they were certified by a Gujarat government laboratory and that the product had fulfilled the parameters for ventilator procurement by the Centre’s high-powered procurement committee. In remarks made to the press, Ravi noted that a Central government enterprise, HLL Lifecare, has also placed an order for 5,000 machines from Jyoti CNC. This is presumably part of a tender process that was kicked off by HLL Lifecare in March 2020 and is possibly being supported by financial resources from the PM Cares Fund, which earmarked over Rs 2,000 crore for the purchase of 50,000 ventilators in May 2020. The Wire was not able to contact anyone at the PM Cares Fund to enquire into which vendors would be supplying the 50,000 ventilators it said it was paying for – a reminder of the fact that a fund run with donations from not just the taxpaying public but also government bodies lacks even basic transparency about its functioning. Attempts to obtain a response from the PMO have also proved fruitless.