Ahmedabad: The Congress alleged on Thursday that the Gujarat government was playing with the lives of coronavirus patients to promote 'Dhaman-1' ventilators made by a firm owned by Chief Minister Vijay Rupani's friend'.
The ruling BJP called the allegations baseless and said the opposition party was maligning the image of a local manufacturer.
On Wednesday, the Gujarat government had defended its decision to procure Dhaman-1 ventilators, claiming that they were as good as any other ventilator and certified by a centrally accredited laboratory.
Rajkot-based firm Jyoti CNC developed Dhaman-1 brand of ventilators and donated 866 of them to the government in April at a time when there was an acute shortage of these machines following coronavirus outbreak, Principal Secretary, Health, Jayanti Ravi, told reporters on Wednesday.
But the state unit of the Congress alleged that owner of Jyoti CNC, Parakramsinh Jadeja, is Rupani's friend.
"Dhaman-1 is not a ventilator at all. It's just a mechanized ambu-bag to supply oxygen to the body. We are not against any company. But we firmly believe that these so-called ventilators were procured just to promote a company owned by the CM's friend," said Congress spokesperson Manish Doshi.