Expressing dissatisfaction about information given by the State government on providing Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) kits for healthcare workers, the Karnataka High Court on Tuesday said that the government must have realistic data of healthcare workers requiring PPE kits based on guidelines issued by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare for rational use of PPEs.
Also, the court said that the State government is bound by the guidelines issued by the MoHFW and the PPE kits are purchased as per the specification laid down in the guidelines issued way back in April.
A special Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Abhay Shreeniwas Oka and Justice B.V. Nagarathna made these observations during hearing on PIL petitions related to the issues arisen due to COVID-19 lockdown.
Raising doubt on government’s way of estimating the requirement of around 3.3 lakh PPE kits per month assuming that there will be around 3,000 COVID-19 positive cases across the State, the Bench said that the government has not provided the data of health workers requiring the PPEs as per the guidelines issued by the MoHFW.
The Bench also noted that the guidelines do not insist on requirement of all components of PPE kit for every health worker as it had also specified rational use of components of PPEs based on risk level of healthcare workers in COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 health facilities.
The written statement of the government, the Bench noted does say that it is following guidelines issued by the MoHFW but it is relying on certificate issued by ISO and SISTRA (South India Textile Research Association) by constituting a technical committee for procurement of PPE kits.
The State government has told the court that orders were placed for purchase of approximately 6,52,900 PPE kits during March 2020 and orders for purchase of 5,00,000 PPE kits were placed with various vendors during April and May 2020 and 4,89,000 PPE kits were received from vendors as on May 24.
