New Delhi: India on Monday has received a huge consignment of 1.70 lakh Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) from China to fight against COVID 19 pandemic.
Officials in the Health Ministry said that with this imported PPEs from China, India has fresh 1.90 lakh of PPEs (domestic supplies of 20,000) which will now be distributed to hospitals across different states.
“3,87,473 PPEs are already available in the country,” officials added.
Officials said that a total of 2.94 lakh PPEs have already been supplied to different state governments as of now.
Officials said that 2 lakh domestically produced N95 masks are also being sent to various hospitals. “Over 20 lakh N95 masks have been supplied by Centre to different state governments,” the official said. About 16 lakh N95 masks are presently available in the country, and this figure will increase with the fresh supply of 2 lakh masks.
Officials said that major portions of the fresh supplies are being sent to States with the comparatively higher number of cases such as Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Delhi, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Rajasthan.
“Supplies are also being sent to central institutions like AIIMS, Safdarjung and RML hospitals, RIMS, NEIGRIHMS, BHU and AMU,” the official said.
An order for 80 lakh complete PPE kits (including N95 masks) had been placed on a Singapore based platform earlier.
“Supplies will commence from April 11 with 2 lakh, followed by 8 lakh more in a week. Negotiations are in final stages with a Chinese platform for placing an order of 60 lakh complete PPE kits, which will also include N95 masks. Separate orders for N95 masks and protective goggles are also being placed on some foreign companies,” officials said.
Giving a further fillip to domestic capabilities, Northern Railways have also developed PPEs. “This is in addition to the PPEs and N95 masks developed by DRDO earlier. Efforts are now being made to start mass production of these products. Existing N95 mask producers have increased their capacity to about 80,000 masks per day,” officials said.
"Orders have been placed for 112.76 lakhs standalone N95 masks and 157.32 lakhs PPE coveralls. Out of these, 80 lakh PPE kits will include N95 masks. The objective is to achieve a supply of about 10 lakh PPE kits per week," officials said.
“Looking at the number of patients in the country, sufficient quantities are available for the moment. Further supplies are expected within this week,” the official added.
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