Health Services clarifies on substandard masks issue
Source: The Sangai Express
Imphal, June 26 2020:
The Directorate of Health Services has issued a clarification to the allegation raised by BJP MLA Sorokhaibam Rajen regarding supply of substandard face masks, PPE and other materials to healthcare workers.
Addressing the media on June 23, BJP MLA S Rajen had said, 'there was an issue of supplying sub-standard face masks, PPE and other materials to healthcare workers.
The issue is being investigated by the Vigilance Department' .
Responding to this comment, the Health Directorate, in a statement, said that only one unfortunate incident of allocating 200 number of defective N-95 masks to Churachandpur District Hospital was raised.
"This incident occured due to inability to check each and every item before issuing both by the Health Department and authorised district staff due to time constraints and heavy demands during that time, therefore the district authority was instructed to check the quality of each item before distributing/using," it said.
"The defective items were returned and replaced from the stores of the Health Department in time.
Payments to the relevant suppliers have been stalled," it added.
The Directorate maintained that the State Health Department has taken up all possible efforts to fight the Coronavirus.
"Complete safety of our frontline workers has been the mainstay of this department".
"After the nationwide lockdown began, procuring various personal protective gears was a major issue throughout the country" .
"However, the State Government has taken all possible measures to airlift personal protective gear from the national capital through reputed firms/suppliers of the Health Department as well as commitment to supply within the shortest time frame," it added.