NDMA to source PPE locally, says Afzal

ISLAMABAD: National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) Chairman Lieutenant General Muhammad Afzal announced on Wednesday that from now onwards all personal protective equipment (PPE) for Covid-19 pandemic would preferably be procured from local market.

This principled decision was taken to support local businesses and manufacturing industry, said a press release.

According to the statement, the NDMA chairman has directed the procurement committee that maximum procurement should be done from local markets through local vendors except where product of required quality and quantity was not available.

He was informed that all PPE except for N-95 masks was now locally manufactured and available in Pakistani markets. Lt Gen Afzal said manufacturers who intend to produce N-95 would also be supported, adding: “Local production of N-95 masks up to 100,000 will start by the end of this month”.

He, however, made it clear that PPE supply especially to doctors and paramedic staff was of immense importance, therefore, quality and quantity of PPE would not be compromised at any cost.

He said only those products which were not available in local market according to required standards and quantities would be imported.

Meanwhile, the NDMA has provided medical equipment, including PPE, to Provincial Disaster Management Authorities (PDMAs) of Punjab,

Sindh Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Gilgit-Baltistan as well as to the State Disaster Management Authority (SDMA) of Azad Jammu and Kashmir, besides hospitals, National Institute of Health (NIH), the armed forces and government departments. —APP