Pakistan manufacturing PPE locally, Fawad Chaudhry denies shortage

ISLAMABAD: Minister for Science and Technology Fawad Chaudhry on Tuesday said that there was no shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE) in Pakistan as they are now manufacturing it within the country, ARY NEWS reported.

“We are not importing PPE anymore,“ he said while announcing that most of them, are now manufactured in Karachi.

He offered the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leadership to identify the facility in the province facing PPE shortage so that they could provide it to them.

“We have nearly 4000 ventilators available in the country,” he said while divulging detail of another important equipment needed in fight against COVID-19.

He blamed the PPP leadership for adopting a dual policy on coronavirus issue, saying that on one hand they agree to the decisions during National Command and Control Centre (NCOC) meeting while on the other, they criticize it in the evening on television screens.

Further objecting the decision to continue strict lockdown in the country, he asked as to what they would do if coronavirus vaccine is not developed in next one and a half year.

“Shall we continue this lockdown for one and a half year?” he asked while saying that the government could not neglect the lower segments of the society.

Fawad Chaudhry further lamented the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) for requisitioning the National Assembly session but its President Shehbaz Sharif skipping it at the last moment.

He further suggested that it would have been better if virtual sessions of both the houses of the Parliament- Senate and National Assembly- would have been convened.