Srinagar: To enhance resilience in the healthcare system in peripheral hospitals that usually have a shortfall of these, critical care equipment worth USD 50 million under the World Bank-funded Jhelum Tawi Flood Recovery Project is being procured by the J&K administration.
Officials say the equipment will come as a shot in the arm at a time when the healthcare sector is overburdened by the Covid-19 pandemic.
The procurement of this equipment is being undertaken through JKMSCL (Jammu and Kashmir Medical Supplies Corporation) which has been designated as the PIU (Project Implementation Unit).
The first batch comprising 10 different types of equipment has already reached the warehouses of JKMSCL at Jammu and Srinagar.
Dr Syed Abid Rasheed Shah, Chief Executive Officer, JKERA/JTFRP, has stressed upon the JKMCL to complete the procurement process within the stipulated timelines so that the equipment is made available to various peripherals hospitals across J&K at the earliest and enable the Health department to tackle the Covid-19 situation more efficiently.
At the JKMSCL warehouse at Srinagar, the corporation has received the first consignment which includes 40 Haemodialysis machines, 160 Oxygen concentrators, 10 Haematology Analysers, 38 High Flow Nasal Oxygen Therapy Units (120) Intensive Care Beds, five mobile X-Ray units, 150 cardiac monitors, 20 Paediatric Glucometers/ Bilirubinometers, 12 Integrated bi-polar and US coagulation cutting units, and 14 Blood Bank Refrigerators with accessories.
The officials are hopeful that the requirements of USD 50 million for the procurement of the much-needed critical care equipment under the JTFRP project could not have come at a better time than this, when patients are being referred from the peripheral hospitals to District and Tertiary Care hospitals for specialised treatment owing to shortage of intensive care beds and other critical care equipment.
With the critical care equipment procured under JTFRP, critically ill patients can be treated at the peripheral hospitals, thus reducing the burden of referrals on District and Tertiary Hospitals, besides providing the people with quality healthcare facilities at their native places.
The JKMSCL’s Project Implementation Unit for the component has already signed contracts agreements with the various rate contractors enlisted with the corporation for the supply of this critical care medical equipment.
Some of the major equipments being procured under the component include Intensive Care Beds, Plasma Sterilisers, Anaesthesia Work Stations, Cardiac Monitors, Oxygen Concentrators, Diathermy machines, Computerised ECG machines, Colour Doppler machines, Hemo-Dialysis machines for paediatric patients, Defibrillators, Portable X-ray Machines, Electro-Hydraulic Operation theatres, Integrated Bipolar and Ultrasonic Coagulation cutting devices, Paediatric Glucometers/ Bilirubinometers, Colour Doppler Machines, CT Scan Machines, Full HD Fluorescence Technology Laparoscope End vision Set, and others.

Reader correspondent