Government opens up supply lines from abroad with receipt of 1.70 lakh PPE coveralls from China

Union Government on Monday opened up its supply lines from abroad with the receipt of 1.70 lakh Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) coveralls from China. These PPEs have been donated to India.

With this, the domestic supplies of 20,000 coveralls, a total of 1.90 lakh coveralls will be now distributed to hospitals across India and will add to the 3,87,473 PPEs already available in the country as of now. A total of 2.94 lakh PPE coveralls have been arranged and supplied by the Centre now.

In addition to this, two lakh domestically produced N95 masks are also being sent to various hospitals. About 16 lakh N95 masks are presently available in the country, and this figure will increase with the fresh supply of two lakh masks.

Major portions of the fresh supplies are being sent to States with a comparatively higher number of cases like Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Delhi, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Kerala and Rajasthan. Supplies are also being sent to central institutions like AIIMS, Safdarjung and RML hospitals, RIMS, BHU and AMU.

In a statement, the Health Ministry said, the commencement of foreign supplies marks a major milestone in India's efforts to procure personal protection

equipment for the battle against COVID-19.

An order for 80 lakh complete PPE kits including N95 masks had been placed on a Singapore-based platform earlier and now it has been indicated that supplies will commence from April 11, 2020, with two lakh, which will be followed by eight lakh more in a week. The ministry said, the 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.

Giving a further fillip to domestic capabilities, Northern Railways have developed a PPE coverall. This is in addition to the PPE coveralls and N99 masks developed by DRDO earlier. Efforts are now being made to start mass production of these products.