With the country been lockdown since 25 March, the production, distribution, and supply of medical products have turned out to be difficult.
The supply of essential medical goods, like masks, hand sanitizers, gloves, blood analyzers, and others has been badly affected, say the officials. This issue occurred though the country tried to put up its efforts in boosting the medical supplies, amidst this COVID-19 pandemic.
This is affecting both the production and the supply of material. Due to the restriction of movement, the raw material is not reaching the industry on time. The workmen are not allowed to the industries, thus slowing down the process of production. With the available material and workers, though the industries are producing the supplies, they are not being transported from the industry.
The proprietor of an industry named Dr. Sabharwal Wound Care, Manish Sabharwal said the following:
“Maybe it (raw material) will last a week or 10 days, but if we are unable to clear the inventory, the factories will be filled with finished product in four-five days and we will have to shut down production,” said Manish Sabharwal.
The industry has a manufacturing unit for hand sanitizers and bandages in Baddi of Himachal Pradesh. He expresses his distress as though they are ready to produce the necessary goods, it is not happening because of the lockdown conditions.
They say that they need a bit of help to continue their works.
Another manufacturer of gloves said that their supplier was stuck in another town. Now neither could he return, nor could he arrange for another supplier in the place; this was due to the problems with the local authorities.
The forum coordinator of the Association of Indian Medical Device Industry told the Department of Pharmaceuticals(DoP), that the reasons for these problems are the lack of sufficient manpower and obstruction to the movement of goods.
