India exports medical equipment to Serbia amid existing shortage with the nation

It all started with a tweet by the Serbian wing of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) on 29th of March which stated that another Boeing 747 has landed in Belgrade, Serbia (from India) carrying a gargantuan 90 Tons of medical protective equipment. Two points which led to the rise of debate and inconsistency were that

1) India has been falling short of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) necessary for the treatment of Corona Virus patients. Then why is India transporting such an hefty amount of equipment to other countries.

2) When questioned about the matter, the centre completely denied to have any knowledge about the transportation.

The centre, after the denial, reverted back to the media with details saying nothing was exported from the equipment sidelined by the Indian Government for the use of state hospitals but this whole statement wasn't backed up by facts and displayed lack of cooperation between centre and the states as the government in Cochin publicly added that 35 lakh latex surgical gloves will be transported in the near future.

Even after the Directorate General of Foreign Trade banned foreign export of PPE on March 20 and even after the profuse complaints of medical colleges an treatment centers regarding meagreness of required medical treatment equipment, the reason why the government went on take such an overwhelming decision still remains a riddle.

However, the centre assured that items such as gloves, ophthalmic instruments and appliances, surgical blades and gas masks will and can still be exported. In fact, India itself plans on acquiring these items from China and South Korea.

Written by: Goutam Punjabi