India exported 23 lakh PPE to 5 countries in July 2020

The Union Health Ministry on August 14, 2020, announced that India has exported 23 lakh Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) to five countries including the UK, the US, and UAE in July 2020, after the Indian government had relaxed the export norms.

The increased export of PPE has substantially helped India to position itself in the global market of these kits. As per the ministry, Senegal and Slovania are the two other countries that have also been added to the list.

The self-sufficiency for various medical equipment including PPE can be seen in the light of ‘Make in India’ spirit which has been embedded in the Atma Nirbhar Bharat Abhiyaan.

Centre’s continues support to states and UTs:

The central government has been leading the pro-active, graded, pre-emptive, and collaborative response and management of COVID-19, along with the states and Union Territories.

As per the Health Ministry centre has been putting continuous efforts towards strengthening the medical infrastructure across the country and various policy decisions have also been taken on a regular basis.

While the government has been supplying N95 masks, PPE kits, ventilators, etc. to the state governments and UTs administrations, they also have been procuring these items directly.

Health Ministry further underlined that between March and August 2020, state administrations have procured 1.40 crores indigenous PPE from their own budgetary resources. During the same period, the centre has also distributed 1.28 crores PPE to states, central institutions, and UTs.

Strengthening domestic market and permission to export the kits:

At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the world was in the shortage of all kinds of medical equipment including PPE kits, N95 masks, ventilators, etc.

As most of the products were not manufactured in the country, ministries of textiles, health, pharmaceuticals, Defence Research and Development Organisation and others combined their efforts and turned this pandemic into an opportunity to develop its domestic market for the production of medical equipment.

With the strengthened domestic production and having met the domestic requirements of PPE, Director General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) in July had permitted the export of the kits.

With the relaxation, in July itself, India exported 23 lakh PPE to 5 countries which substantially aided India to position itself in the global export market of PPE.