New Delhi: The World Bank has hailed India’s efforts in tackling the Covid-19 pandemic in a report documenting the challenges, innovations, and lessons in the procurement of essential medical items.
In a paper titled, ‘India Covid-19 Procurement: Challenges, innovations, and Lessons’, the World Bank noted that India’s decision to have centralized procurement, support for long-term market development and production of Emergency Medical Equipment (EME), and early export restrictions worked in its favor during the public health emergency in the country.
The World Bank and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) had jointly funded the ‘Covid-19 Emergency Response and Health Systems Strengthening Project’ worth $1.5 billion.
As per the report, the creation of empowered inter-ministerial groups helped the government to make prompt decisions for a centralized procurement to support the states. “Flexible conditions were permitted under the existing legal frameworks and budgets to undertake fast-track procurement, while empowered groups helped to accelerate decision making. Initially, this enabled accelerated imports, and over time, the development of local markets, based on a whole-of-government approach,” it said.
The WB report praised India for not compromising the quality of essential commodities during the large-scale procurement project. It hailed India’s central procurement agency, HLL Lifecare Limited, for hiring inspection agencies to undertake pre-dispatch inspections at manufacturing sites to ensure quality products.
The World Bank also noted that the Indian government provided a conducive environment for the growth of the indigenous medical devices industry. At the beginning of the pandemic, India was mostly importing ventilators but 25 manufacturers including several newcomers came forward to produce ventilators with limited financial and infrastructure capacity, it said.
