CHINA DONATES 170,000 PPE KITS TO INDIA TO HELP FIGHT COVID-19
nNEWDELHI: China donated 170,000 personal protection equipment (PPE) kits to India on Monday to help the neighbouring country fight the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) outbreak, the health ministry said.
Domestic supply of an additional 20,000 PPE will begin soon. Altogether, these 190,000 kits will be distributed to hospitals and health facilities. This will add to the 387,000 PPE already available in the country.
The development comes amid a debate over whether India has enough PPE kits to arm its frontline health care workers who are working round the clock to contain the spread of the fast-spreading infection.
In addition, 200,000 domestically produced N95 masks are being sent to various hospitals, the health ministry statement said, adding that about 1.6 million such masks are already available.
A large part of the fresh supplies will be sent to states with comparatively higher number of cases such as Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Delhi, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Rajasthan.
“The commencement of foreign supplies marks a major milestone in our efforts to procure personal protection equipment for the battle against Covid-19,” the ministry said.
It added that an order for 8 million complete PPE kits was placed before a Singapore company. Also, negotiations are in final stages with a Chinese platform for placing an order of 6 million complete PPE kits, which will also include N95 masks.
Aurangzeb Naqshbandi, he also spoke about his government’s lockdown exit strategy while underlining that a final call will only be taken after assessing the situation on April 15 when the lockdown ends. Edited excerpts:
Jharkhand has only three Covid-19 cases. Is it because you are not testing enough?
We got the first 5,000 [testing] kits on Friday and that is why our testing has been slow. We have been repeatedly, since March 21, requesting for PPES from the Centre. There has been an inordinate delay in getting Central help. We are doing everything to contain the pandemic with minimum resources. We are gradually increasing the testing. Jharkhand is a poor and a tribal-dominated state and we are facing a huge shortage of money. The Centre is not helping us with any financial assistance. On top of that, public sector undertakings are not clearing our dues amounting to several thousands of crores. The high court has asked us to specify the measures we have taken to fight the Covid-19. In times like this, it becomes extremely difficult to fight multiple battles.
PM has asked states to come up with their exit strategy before the lockdown ends. What is your plan?
It is difficult to say anything at this moment. Lockdown is a tough measure and equally tough is the exit. We cannot tell the people on April 14
{last day of the lockdown} that everything is fine now and they can resume their normal lives. We have to take appropriate measures to ensure that we do not undo what we have achieved by enforcing the lockdown. Much of our exit strategy depends on number of positive cases and whether we have been able to flatten the curve. We will take a call after evaluating the situation.
Reports suggest number of people have complained about not getting their free rations. What are you doing to improve food distribution among the needy?
We have started CM’S didi kitchens in 4,600 village panchayats and there is a daal bhaat scheme in urban areas to ensure nobody sleeps hungry. Under the daal baat scheme, a person would have a complete meal for ₹5 but now we have made it free. We