New Delhi: The shortage of personal protection equipment (PPE) for healthcare professionals engaged in the fight against coronavirus continues to haunt India. Sources confirmed Thursday that close to 50,000 PPEs received from China were found unusable. They failed to pass the quality checks conducted by the Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO). The kits donated by China had arrived April 5 in India. The tests were conducted at the DRDO laboratory in Gwalior.
Domestic production
To tackle the shortage India has already placed an order of one million kits through traders. Domestic production of PPEs also has been ramped up said sources. Among the one million kits, the major order has gone to a company in Singapore. However, all kits will be sourced through China only, said the source.
Government however has said that there is no need to panic. It estimates that the country will be in a comfortable position if it has in hand around two million PPEs.
Sources also said that domestic production of PPEs has reached the 30,000-mark per week. This figure has been achieved a week before schedule. They said that the figure is expected to reach 50,000-mark by the end of the month.
India has been procuring additional machines needed to manufacture the suits. “Another 30 hot air seam sealing machines will soon be sourced,” a government official said. It should be stated here that China has asked all countries to import these items through reputed Chinese firms cleared by the government.
Agencies
