Annan company Alpha Solway has been awarded a £53 million contract to supply personal protective equipment (PPE) for NHS Scotland.
The contract, which will create 200 jobs, will provide 232 million surgical masks, six million respirator masks and two million visors. It will meet the demand for the health and social care sectors until summer 2021.
Alpha Solway director Steven Binnie said: “Alpha Solway is proud to be awarded this order to further support NHS Scotland during this incredibly challenging time. We are also delighted to announce that it allows us to create 200 new jobs.
“NHS Scotland’s commitment to purchase critical PPE equipment from local manufacturers sends positive signals to businesses such as ours and gives us the confidence to continue investing in the local area. Put simply, it enables us to do more in the fight against the impact of Covid-19, but in a way that lays positive, sustainable foundations for the future.”
Last week, the UK Government admitted it had awarded a £252 million contract for PPE to an investment firm which ended up delivering 50 million Chinese-made masks whicih were unsuitable for NHS use.
The NHS Scotland order was made to Alpha Solway, part of Globus Group, through a regulated procurement framework with PPE distributor Arco.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said: "This order, that will support 200 new jobs in Dumfries, is expected to meet the needs of our health and social care sector in relation to surgical masks and visors between now and next summer.
"It will also meet most of the sector's requirements for respirator masks. This contract is a really important step in ensuring that Scotland has secure supplies of PPE for the foreseeable future."
