1.7 lakh PPE kits were received on April 5. DRDO said that it only conducts tests and submits the reports to the agencies concerned. The Netherlands, Spain, Turkey, Georgia, and the Czech Republic had also received faulty kits. Spain had to return 9,000 'quick result' test kits to China as they were deemed substandard. India importing more PPE kits from to manage the shortage

New Delhi: The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), on Thursday, denied reports which claimed that Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) kits donated to the Indian government from China failed quality tests.

In a statement, DRDO clarified that the defence research agency 'does not pass or fail kits provided to it for testing by Hindustan Latex Ltd or any other vendor'.

"Our labs only carry out tests as per set standards and provide that to the agencies concerned," DRDO officials were quoted as saying by news agency ANI. 

Earlier today, multiple reports said that about 50,000 of the 1.7 lakh PPE kits received from China on April 5, failed quality tests. Later, two small consignments with 30,000 and 10,000 PPE kits also failed the tests - a report said

According to the report, the kits were tested at the Defence Research & Development Organisation laboratory in Gwalior.

The Indian government is procuring CE/FDA certified PPE kits only but some consignments received as donations failed the quality tests.

Additional Orders Placed

India is facing a shortage of PPE kits and to close the gap, India has placed an order of an additional 1 million suits through traders, including a Singaporean company.

The PPE kits are expected to arrive by the end of May and more orders are being placed. As per the Centre’s estimate, India needs at least 2 million PPE suits.

India is also producing the PPE kits locally with the Indian Railways ramping up producing of PPE in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Indian Railways will manufacture over 30,000 PPE kits by April 2020 with the Northern Railways’ Jagadhari Workshop planning to produce as many as 1, 00,000 kits by May.

Substandard China-Made Kits

Meanwhile, Assam became the first state in the country to directly procure personal protective equipment (PPE) kits from China to combat Covid-19 with a cargo plane carrying 50,000 PPE kits from China’s Guangzhou landing at the Lokapriya Gopinath Bordoloi International Airport in Guwahati. 

In the past, the Netherlands, Spain, Turkey, Georgia, and the Czech Republic rejected China-made coronavirus testing kits and other protective gear labelling the items as “substandard”.

Beijing has repeatedly been called out for the quality of the supplies it is selling all over the world.