Assam will not use 50,000 Chinese PPE kits, for now, around 1.5 lakh kits still available in the state:
Guwahati, April 20: Assam will not use Chinese PPE kits for now. Amid a controversy over the Chinese Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) kits, the Assam government has decided to not use the 50,000 PPE kits for now which were imported from China.
On April 15, a cargo plane carrying 50,000 PPE kits from Guangzhou in China had landed at the Lokapriya Gopinath Bordoloi International Airport in Guwahati and Assam Health minister Dr. Himanta Biswa Sarma had received the consignment.
After controversy has been raised over the quality of the Chinese PPE kits, the Assam Health minister said that, the Assam government has requested the private party who brought the PPE kits from China to keep it in their stores in Guwahati.
“Assam government will only use the PPE kits after the doctors are satisfied with their quality. When the Assam government had ordered the PPE kits at that time the state had only around 2000-2200 PPE kits and after that the state had procured 1,50,000 PPE kits from various states of the country. As of now, we have enough PPE kits,” Himanta Biswa Sarma said.
According to the Assam Health department, around 23,591 PPE kits are stored at State Central Drugs Ware House, Narengi in Guwahati, 21,991 are in district hospitals.
The Assam minister also rubbished reports the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) of rejecting Chinese PPE kits and said that, the DRDO never stated that they rejected Chinese PPE kits.
“It said that, it only tested and testing and rejection are two different things. The state government had not released any money against the consignment and the kits will be tested at DRDO or any other government laboratories,” Himanta Biswa Sarma said.
He also said that, the center had also provided 5400 PPE kits to the state and as of now the state has enough stock of kits to fight COVID-19.
Assam has reported 34 COVID-19 positive cases and 18 patients were discharged from the hospitals so far.
One COVID-19 patient from Hailakandi district died on April 10.
