A group of local garments and textile exporters has banded together to produce 10,000 protective personal equipment (PPE) sets per day after the Holy Week, a Palace official announced Monday.
Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles said the mass production of medical-grade PPEs initiated by the member-companies of the Confederation of Wearable Exporters of the Philippines (CONWEP) will boost the country’s supply and benefit the health workers battling the new coronavirus disease.
“Last week po, inannounce ng DoH (Department of Health) na may 1,000,000 na PPEs na available na para sa ating mga frontliners. Pero aside po from these newly-procured PPEs, the DTI has announced that member-companies of the Confederation of Wearable Exporters of the Philippines will now start the local production of medical-grade PPE coveralls for healthcare workers,” he said during a virtual press conference Monday.
“Raw materials for these will be shipped in by this week and the roll out of production at the garment factories will immediately start after the Holy Week. Once operational, these factories will be able to produce 10,000 PPEs a day,” he added.
Before the coronavirus pandemic, the country was not a local producer of medical-grade PPEs, according to Nograles. The local production of PPEs however has been made possible through the efforts of the Department of Trade of Industry (DTI) led by Secretary Ramon Lopez.
Nograles said DTI through the Bureau of Investments (BOI) coordinated with private and health sector to develop a medical-grade prototype PPEs. Such protective gear could be used even in high COVID-risk hospital situations such as operating rooms, COVID 19 positive wards, and intensive care units.
“Under this partnership, member-companies of CONWEP executed the design prototype of the PPE coveralls,” Nograles said.
“After several tests by DoH and PGH (Philippine General Hospital), CONWEP refitted the design prototypes until these were approved by the DoH and PGH,” he added.
To further augment the country’s supply, the government has exempted the importation of PPEs and other medical medical emergency supplies from tax and duties. (Genalyn Kabiling)