Mahabir Pun’s NIC scrambles to meet high demand for PPEs

Published On: August 17, 2020 01:40 PM NPT By: Republica | @RepublicaNepal

Private hospitals complain there has been no initiative from the government to import high-quality PPE suits

KATHMANDU, Aug 17 : On Sunday, the National Innovation Center (NIC) had 95 personal protective equipment (PPE) sets produced for medics working to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. The center started distributing the protective suits at around 10 in the morning, and within a few hours the center had run out of PPE sets.

At least 40 medics had to return empty-handed from NIC – a non-profit run by Mahabir Pun.

“The demand for protective suits has skyrocketed as COVID-19 cases are increasing at an alarming rate. We [NIC] have been distributing at least 90 PPE sets every day. However, we are unable to fulfill the demand,” Mahabir Pun, Chairman of NIC, told Republica.

The center has been providing PPE sets free of cost to medics. “We have been collecting funds from the private sector to produce the PPEs. After helping hands suggested to produce PPEs for medics – working in the frontline – the NIC started producing the protective suits to be distributed for free to health workers,” he said. The center has been producing PPE suits since late March.

One of the staffers at a private hospital in Kathmandu who received a few PPE sets from NIC told Republica that the quality of protective suits produced by NIC is much better than the PPE sets available in the market.

“The protective suits available in the market are of low-quality. Also, there is a shortage of PPE suits in the market,” the staffer told Republica, on the condition of anonymity.

The private sector has been importing PPE suits from India. “We used to import PPE suits from China. We have been unable to import from the Chinese market in recent times. It is impossible to purchase a quality PPE suit from the Nepali market,” said an administrative officer at a private hospital in Kathmandu.

“As it is difficult to get high-quality PPE sets in the market, we have to send our staff to NIC to get protective suits. It is not that private hospitals want to get PPE sets for free. We just want high-quality PPE sets for our medics,” said the staffer, adding that there has been no support from the government to provide PPE suits to medics even though the coronavirus cases are already ringing alarm bells.

Currently, a set of high-quality PPE suits costs Rs 4,000 to Rs 7,000 in the domestic market.

“The government has not facilitated in importing high-quality PPE suits. Even the PPE suits donated by foreign countries and organizations have been distributed haphazardly. Is the government even serious about controlling the spread of the virus when the frontline doctors are not safe?” the staff questioned.