{"id":25295,"date":"2020-03-14T19:00:03","date_gmt":"2020-03-14T17:00:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cins.rs\/?p=25295"},"modified":"2020-06-19T16:07:03","modified_gmt":"2020-06-19T14:07:03","slug":"coronavirus-see-how-many-medical-ventilators-there-are-in-your-town","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cins.rs\/en\/coronavirus-see-how-many-medical-ventilators-there-are-in-your-town\/","title":{"rendered":"Coronavirus: See How Many Medical Ventilators There Are in Your Town"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Since the appearance of the first coronavirus (COVID-19) cases in Serbia, there has been an ongoing discussion on the number of ventilators, the medical equipment designed to assist breathing which is necessary in the event of an epidemic. Serbian Prime Minister <strong>Ana Brnabi\u0107<\/strong> on Thursday, March 12, first said that there was a sufficient number of ventilators, adding that she couldn\u2019t publicly give the exact number, and then said that the information was treated as a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cins.rs\/sabic-oznaciti-podatke-o-broju-respiratora-drzavnom-tajnom-je-nonsens\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">state secret<\/a>. However, that same day President <strong>Aleksandar Vu\u010di\u0107<\/strong> came out with a specific number.<\/p><p>\u201cThat\u2019s my fault, about the number of ventilators. Because I wanted us to procure even more. We now have 1,008 ventilators, three times more than in 2009. And in 20 days\u2019 time we\u2019ll have another 500. We ordered [the ventilators] because we wanted to be prepared,\u201d Vu\u010di\u0107 said in a March 12 public address.<\/p><div class=\"antrefile-container\"><div class=\"antrefile\"><div class=\"antrefilecont\"><p>Thank you for reposting CINS articles! When doing so, you need to state that you have <strong>taken the story over from the Center for Investigative Journalism of Serbia, and provide a link to the article you are reposting.<\/strong><\/p>\r\n<p><strong>More information at: <a href='\/uslovi-koriscenja\/' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer'>cins.rs\/uslovi-koriscenja\/<\/a><\/strong><\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div><p>The previous day, the <em>Ministry of Health<\/em> called the urgent public procurement of 15 ventilators, which will be delivered to hospitals throughout the country.<\/p><p>In line with the Law on Free Access to Information of Public Importance, the <em>Center for Investigative Journalism of Serbia<\/em> (CINS) received from the <em>Institute of Public Health Dr. Milan Jovanovi\u0107 Batut<\/em> data on the official number of ventilators \u2013 so-called artificial respiration \u2013 in Serbia on March 13, 2020. (President Vu\u010di\u0107 subsequently, on March 14, said that he had procured 50 more ventilators, while the authorities will, according to announcements, continue to work on procuring new ones.)<\/p><p>According to the official report delivered to CINS, which does not list equipment from military medical institutions, the total number of ventilators is 1,024 \u2013 955 of which are operational, i.e. as the Batut Institute lists it, \u201cin use.\u201d Out of the total number, 66 ventilators are not being used, i.e. are not operational, while three are in the \u201cunknown\u201d category.<\/p><p>If ventilators are classified as \u201cunknown,\u201d that means they could not identify whether they are in a basement, or if someone has stolen them, or thrown them away as scrap metal, epidemiologist <strong>Zoran Radovanovi\u0107<\/strong> explained to CINS.\u00a0<\/p><div class=\"fullws\"><iframe src='https:\/\/www.cins.rs\/scripts\/respiratori\/respiratori.html'  height='580' frameborder='0'><\/iframe>\r\n<\/div><h6><em>* koristi se=it is in function<\/em><br \/><em>ne koristi se=it&#8217;s not in function<\/em><br \/><em>** According to data provided by Batut Institute, the hospital in U\u017eice had medical ventilators located in departments in Po\u017eega and Nova Varo\u0161. Both of them are on the map shown as in U\u017eice.<\/em><\/h6><p>&nbsp;<\/p><p>Observed by districts, the Belgrade District is dominant with 431 ventilators, followed by\u00a0the South Banat District with 164.<\/p><div class=\"antrefile-container\"><div class=\"antrefile\"><h2 class=\"antretitle\">We Asked Health Care Institutions About Ventilators.<\/h2><div class=\"antrefilecont\"><p>They were tight-lipped. Read more <a href='\/en\/coronavirus-health-care-institutions-tight-lipped-about-ventilators-nearly-all-ventilators-at-dedinje-hospital-in-use\/' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer'>here<\/a>.<\/p>\r\n<p><em>Note: This information was added on April 6th, 2020<\/em><\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div><p>The Ni\u0161ava and \u0160umadija districts are in the middle of the scale, with 44 and 39 ventilators respectively. Batut data show that the Toplica District has the smallest number of ventilators, four in total.<\/p><p>&nbsp;<\/p><div class=\"fullwreg\"><iframe title='Medical ventilators in Serbia (by districts) by March 13th' aria-label='Republic of Serbia districts choropleth map' src='\/\/datawrapper.dwcdn.net\/N0HaO\/2\/' scrolling='no' frameborder='0' style='border: none;' width='600' height='584'><\/iframe>\r\n<\/div><h6><em>* The software we used didn&#8217;t allow us to show the map of Serbia with Kosovo and Metohija included. That is why the map isn&#8217;t showing Kosovskomitrova\u010dki disctrict (7 medical ventilators in use) and Kosovski district (1 medical ventilator in use).<\/em><\/h6><h6>\u00a0<\/h6><p>Epidemiologist Radovanovi\u0107 explains that one might ask how many ventilators are actually operational and how many exist only in terms of bookkeeping \u2013in the documents, how many are stored in a basement or undergoing repairs.<\/p><p>\u201cLast year, doctors in Kraljevo went on strike, they did not want to use those devices because they had not undergone maintenance for years and may be dangerous to patients. Because if they use malfunctioning devices, then they (the doctor) are to blame, and they cannot repair them on their own,\u201d said Radovanovi\u0107.<\/p><p>Epidemiologist and assistant director of the<em> Institute of Public Health Kragujevac<\/em> <strong>Predrag Deli\u0107<\/strong> says that there have been instances where a broken device was purchased and repairing it would not pay off, and so it was registered as \u201cnot in use.\u201d He adds that, nevertheless, there aren\u2019t many such devices.<\/p><p>\u201cI assume that, when a list of all the equipment at the disposal of a particular institution is provided, some of that equipment is non-operational or decommissioned, while we are obliged to still keep that equipment and present it in that way. That is \u2018not in use\u2019, or non-operational, or is simply a new device,\u201d Deli\u0107 explains.<\/p><p>Using the data provided by the <em>Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia<\/em> on population size in Serbia\u2019s districts, the CINS journalists calculated the number of ventilators per 10,000 inhabitants. According to that parameter, the South Banat District is the leader with more than two ventilators per 10,000 inhabitants. Right behind it is Belgrade, with a similar number. Eighteen Serbian districts have fewer than one ventilator per 10,000 inhabitants. The bottom of the list is occupied by the Rasina, Jablanica and Ma\u010dva districts.<\/p><div class=\"fullws\"><iframe src='https:\/\/e.infogram.com\/e3ac5a49-f659-4312-9ac3-6497e1bdba95?src=embed' title='Untitled dashboard' width='600' height='850' scrolling='no' frameborder='0' style='border:none;' allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen'><\/iframe><\/div><p>Out of all the cities and towns in Serbia, the capital has the biggest number of ventilators, followed by Novi Sad, Sremska Kamenica, Ni\u0161 and Kragujevac.<\/p><div class=\"fullwreg\"><iframe title='Ten cities with the highest number of medical ventilators in Serbia (by March 13th)' aria-label='Bar Chart' src='\/\/datawrapper.dwcdn.net\/xv49G\/2\/' scrolling='no' frameborder='0' style='border: none;' width='600' height='462'><\/iframe>\r\n<\/div><p>Among health care institutions, the <em>Emergency Room of the Clinical Center of Serbia<\/em> has the biggest number of ventilators \u2013 66. The <em>Center for Anesthesiology and Reanimation of the Clinical Center of Serbia<\/em> has 47, whereas the <em>Emergency Room in Novi Sad<\/em> has 40 ventilators. Next on the list are the <em>Mother and Child Health Care Institute Dr. Vukan \u010cupi\u0107<\/em>, <em>Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases in Sremska Kamenica<\/em> and the <em>Institute for Cardiovascular Diseases Dedinje<\/em>. Other health care institutions have fewer than 30 ventilators.<\/p><div class=\"fullws\"> <iframe src='https:\/\/e.infogram.com\/12b4ed3e-eb83-42ae-8f92-72f0f610f0d4?src=embed' title='TOP TEN SERBIAN HOSPITALS RANKED BY THE NUMBER OF RESPIRATORS  (ON MARCH 13TH) - CINS' width='600' height='850' scrolling='no' frameborder='0' style='border:none;' allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen'><\/iframe><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>More than 60 medical ventilators in Serbia are not operational, whereas the number of those that are is over 950, according to the Institute of Public Health Dr. Milan Jovanovi\u0107 Batut data CINS obtained yesterday. Relative to population size, the biggest quantities of this medical equipment, necessary during COVID-19 spread, are found in the South Banat and Belgrade districts, while the smallest quantities are in the Rasina, Jablanica and Ma\u010dva districts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1348,"featured_media":25305,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1767,1606,1492,1666,1497],"tags":[1765,1766,1768,1764],"class_list":["post-25295","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-covid-19-en","category-hp-multimedia","category-investigative-stories","category-multimedia","category-news","tag-coronavirus","tag-covid-19-en","tag-health","tag-state-secret","ciTrackContent"],"acf":[],"featured_image_url":"https:\/\/www.cins.rs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Respiratori-u-Srbiji-po-gradovima-1.png","author_additional":[1120,1119],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cins.rs\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25295","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cins.rs\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cins.rs\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cins.rs\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1348"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cins.rs\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25295"}],"version-history":[{"count":31,"href":"https:\/\/www.cins.rs\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25295\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25849,"href":"https:\/\/www.cins.rs\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25295\/revisions\/25849"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cins.rs\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25305"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cins.rs\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25295"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cins.rs\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25295"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cins.rs\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25295"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}