GUWAHATI, April 16 - Amidst concerns about the safety of the PPEs imported from China, Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma today said the kits which reached Guwahati last night will be tested in state labs even though they are CE/FDA verified.
Some reports today claimed that many PPE kits that arrived in India have failed safety checks at the Defence Research & Development Organisation laboratory in Gwalior.
Sarma, however, told The Assam Tribune that there is no instruction from Government of India regarding testing the imported kits in Gwalior.
Assam became the first State yesterday to buy PPEs directly from China. Earlier, the states had been getting the share of those procured by Government of India. Some kits were also donated by China.
A consignment of 50,000 PPEs ordered by Assam government from Guangzhou in China reached Guwahati in a special flight last night, taking the stock of PPEs in the State to 1.5 lakh.
�The consignment was cleared by Custom today evening. The kits will be tested in our lab, only after that it will be dispatched to the hospitals,� Sarma said.
He further said the items are CE/FDA verified and better quality than those available in the local market. �We have reviewed the products available locally,� the Minister said.
The Central government has been insisting that it was procuring CE/FDA certified PPE kits only. But some consignments were also received as donations.
Kits that are not FDA/ CE-approved have to pass quality tests in India.
There is a concern among medical circles about the shortage of PPEs in India. Assam had just 10 PPEs on March 16.
