Need to build manufacturing base for PPE, ventilators: Amitabh Kant

Niti Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant on Wednesday said there is a need to build a manufacturing base for Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and ventilators not only for the COVID-19 outbreak but for the future as well.

Kant, who heads the empowered group on coordinating with private sector NGOs and international organisations for the COVID-19 pandemic, was chairing the second meeting with representatives of industry.

"There is a need to build a manufacturing base for PPEs & ventilators not only for #COVID19 response but for the future as well, in line with our objective of accelerating the #MakeInIndia resolve," the Niti Aayog said in a tweet quoting Kant.

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The group headed by Kant is one of the 11 empowered groups of officers constituted by Home Secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla for planning and ensuring implementation of COVID-19 response activities.

Kant brought to notice of the Empowered Committee 6 for COVID-19 that augmenting supply of oxygen is the need of the hour and will be key, hand in hand with manufacturing ventilators during this period, it added.

CII Director General Chandrajit Bannerjee updated the committee on the various COVID-19 response measures being taken, including healthcare product augmentation, policy inputs, relief and information dissemination taken up by industry body CII and its affiliated industry leaders.

Chairman and Managing Director of Medanta - The Medicity, Naresh Trehan informed the committee on the important safety protocols and features required in ventilators for efficient management of Covid -19 patients, it added.

Earlier on March 30,  a high-level delegation of Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) - Karnataka, led by the Chairman Sandeep Singh and Vice Chairman Ramesh Ramadurai, met the Chief Secretary T M Vijay Bhaskar and assured the support of the industry to the government in its fight to contain the spread of COVID 19 in the state.

The government along with the industry has been proactively making the efforts to understand the requirements and the support needed, the CII said.

CII has created a taskforce to work closely with the government on the reduction in spread of COVID-19 and assured its support on the ground, in the form of donations of medicines, personal protective gear, diagnostic test kits, and financial support, it said in a statement.