Coronavirus: Centre has so far signed orders with 39 domestic suppliers for 70 lakh PPEs
Only 55,990 personal protective equipment (PPE) for use by those in the frontline in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic out of 70 lakh - or less than 1 per cent - ordered by the centre have been supplied domestically till date, documents accessed by NDTV shows. The number of N95 masks that have been supplied is a little over 21 lakh, though the centre has ordered for 1.01 crore such masks, the document show.
The government-run HLL Lifecare Ltd, under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW), is the nodal procurement agency for buying PPEs and N95 masks across the country. On April 2, the Health Ministry in an advisory to the states and Union Territories had said, "State Governments/UTs may not go for procurement of crucial medical equipment like PPEs, N95 masks and ventilators and these should be procured centrally by MoHFW and distributed to states."
In a video conference to discuss the lockdown and other strategies between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and chief ministers, many of them raised the shortage of PPE in their states.
The government has so far signed purchase orders with 39 domestic suppliers for 70 lakh PPEs and three domestic suppliers for 1.01 crore N95 masks.
Documents accessed by NDTV show that out of these 39 firms, only eight have started supplying safety gear. The rest 31 firms are yet to start supplying. When NDTV contacted them, most cited delay in placing orders by the government, combined with restrictions imposed due to the lockdown as a reason for the meagre supply.
On April 1, NDTV reported that the Textile Ministry sought the Finance Ministry's intervention as some of the suppliers faced shortage of working capital amid the lockdown. They needed the funds to mobilise resources to manufacture the items.
Of these 39 domestic suppliers for PPEs, the government placed orders with only five suppliers before the lockdown. The rest 34 orders came through during the lockdown.
The first set of orders was placed on March 7 with four domestic suppliers - Amaryllis Healthcare, Arvind Ltd, Sai Synergy, and Sure Safety - for 6.2 lakh PPEs. Another order for 1.6 lakh PPEs was placed with SCG Enterprises Ltd on March 16.
In total, orders for only 7.8 lakh PPEs were placed before the lockdown.
Of the 39 purchase orders, 24 have been placed as late as in the last 10 days, since April 1 for a total of 36.7 lakh PPEs.
Out of three domestic suppliers with whom the government had placed orders of around 1.01 crore N95 masks, one is yet to start supplying. The government placed orders for 5 lakh N95 masks with Thea Tex Healthcare Pvt Ltd on April 7.
Due to poor domestic supply, the government has now turned towards global suppliers for the critical equipment. In a statement on April 6, the Health Ministry said, "An order for 80 lakh complete PPE kits had been placed on a Singapore based platform earlier and now it has been indicated that 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 PPEs which will also include N95 masks. Separate orders for N95 masks and protective goggles are also being placed on some foreign companies."
NDTV has sought a response from the Health Ministry on the delay in placing orders for PPEs.