Combating COVID-19: Production, procurement of PPE kits started to meet demands, says Health Ministry

Union Health and Family Welfare Ministry on Sunday said that initially there was a shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE) kits in the country but the government started taking action in this regard from January and its domestic production and procurement from other countries have begun.

"PPEs are imported. So there was a shortage initially in the country but the Central government started taking action in this regard from January. Domestic manufacturers have started production. We have also started procuring PPE kits from other countries," said Lav Aggarwal, Joint Secretary, Health and Family Welfare Ministry, during a press conference.

He said that many organisations are making efforts to support us in enhancing supplies. "We have dispatched available materials to States in the last two days. The production of additional material has started. PPE kits are available today but must be utilised rationally. We told this to the District Magistrates today," he said.

Aggarwal said: "We have discussed this with all Health Secretaries, Chief Secretaries and District Magistrates as this is one of the major issues. We've explained to them that PPE kits are available with us, and have been already dispatched to the States based on a case-load basis."

"Need to understand that allotment done by us is based on cases reported from States and we're parallelly making an effort to see that how should its procurement be increased. It has started easing out. In coming weeks we'll be able to manage these issues to a large extent," he added.

Bihar Principal Secretary, Health Department, Sanjay Kumar on Sunday said there is a shortage of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) kits and N95 masks in the state.

"There is a shortage of PPEs and N(95) masks. We are in touch with the Centre. Bihar Medical Service Infrastructure Corporation Limited is in contact with those private agencies which can supply," he said.

"Today, we are getting 15,000 PPE kits. So as soon as we get it, we will make it available to medical colleges and districts. We had requested Centre for 5 lakh PPE kits. We have received 4000 so far," added Kumar.

He said that they have requested ICMR to open testing centres in Bhagalpur and Gaya.

With 472 fresh cases of COVID-19 and 11 deaths reported in the last 24 hours, the total number of coronavirus positive cases in the country has gone up to 3,374, said the Union Health and Family Welfare Ministry on Sunday.