India becomes second largest producer of PPE Kits; daily production capacity surpasses 5 lakh

With ramped up production of PPE kits, India has become a producer for PPE kits now from being an importer. Before the Coronavirus pandemic, India used to import the majority of PPE kits from outside but the viral outbreak coupled with demand in PPE kits pushed the country to manufacture indigenously. As a result, the country has become the second largest producer of PPE Kits globally with a daily production of more than 5 lakh PPE kits, according to the Union Minister for Chemical and Fertilizers D V Sadananda Gowda. The minister informed these statistics while addressing a Webinar organised by Invest India Pharma Bureau and Department of pharmaceuticals.

In terms of ventilators also, D V Sadananda Gowda informed that the production capacity in India has increased by up to 3 lakh units per annum. According to him, in order to fight the COVID-19 infection, there has been no scarcity of medicines and the prices of medicines have also remained stable throughout. He credited the achievement to the cooperation among various departments and agencies of the Central Government, State Governments and private sector. “The development of indigenous capacity in medical devices has been crucial for the country as it improved accessibility as well as the affordability of healthcare,” Gowda added.

While the government has noted that with the development of indegenous medicinal equipment has helped fight the battle against the novel Coronavirus, there are some problems that have emerged lately. In the National Capital, with increased numbers of COVID-19 cases, the government has directed to increase the number of ICU beds with and without ventilator support. In Maharashtra, where the caseload has crossed one million mark, the hospitals have been facing shortage in supply of oxygen.

Meanwhile, Gowda highlighted that the government is working on providing low-cost high quality medicines and medical devices. During the pandemic, Gowda asserted that India will soon be among the countries that will develop and supply low cost vaccines for Coronavirus.