LUCKNOW, Nov. 2 -- Paucity of doctors and trained staff is hindering effective use of ventilators in state capital's six government hospitals which collectively have a total of 133 life saving medical equipment. These government hospitals are Lok Bandhu Shri Raj Narayan Combined Hospital, Kanpur Road, Balrampur Hospital, Qaiserbagh, Shyama Prasad Mukherjee (Civil) Hospital, Hazratganj, Ram Sagar Mishra (RSM) Hospital, Sitapur Road, Bhaurav Devras Hospital, Mahanagar, and Combined TB Hospital, Thakurganj. Senior health officials of the local health administration say out of the 133 ventilators in the six government hospitals, over 30 percent are gathering dust due to the lack of trained staff and doctors. As a result, patients are referred from these hospitals to other government hospitals and higher centres. "We are trying to ensure that adequate number of doctors and other staff are deployed at hospitals. Regular and walk-in interviews are being conducted to keep the number of staff at hospitals adequate to run services," said director general, medical health, Dr Ratan Pal Singh Suman. On October 30, the Allahabad high court had asked the state government about the availability and need of ventilators in government hospitals across Uttar Pradesh. Dr Kajali Gupta, director, Civil Hospital, said 16 ventilators are available at the hospital, which are being operated by technicians. The demand for two to three cardiologists, anaesthetists and skilled staff had been raised for the effective utilisation of these life saving devices, Dr Gupta said. Dr Rajeev Kumar Dixit, chief medical superintendent, Lok Bandhu hospital, said: "We have 39 ventilators which are operational with limited staff. More than 116 patients were provided ventilator support in the last one year." "Dr Deepak, nursing officer Kiran Sachan, lab technician Upendra Yadav and ECG technician Kundan Dubey are the trained staff who train other staff members at the hospital to provide complete patient care. The demand has been raised for posting more doctors and related staff for smooth functioning of ventilator services at the hospital," he added. Dr Kavita Arya, director, Balrampur Hospital, said: "The hospital has 64 ventilators of which one or two get defunct due to technical issues sometimes. If we get more doctors and skilled staff, it will be easier to operate the ventilators." Dr SP Singh, chief medical superintendent, Combined TB Hospital, said: "We have two ventilators. Three doctors, four nursing staff and four paramedical staff had received training for the effective use of ventilators." Dr Ranjeet Dixit, chief medical superintendent, Bhaurav Devras hospital, said: "We have two ventilators. Dr GS Bajpayee (anaesthetist) is the trained doctor we have. He also trains other staff members and doctors about how to operate a ventilator. Some more staff will be sent for the ventilator related training." Dr VK Sharma, chief medical superintendent, RSM Hospital, said: "In total, 10 ventilators are available at the hospital and all of them are functioning. Trained doctors are operating them. Also, four staff nurses and one pharmacist had been trained at Ram Manohar Lohia Institute of Medical Sciences a few months ago."...