Medical workers wanted to be protected from poor-quality protective equipment

This can be done during public procurement

The Association of Developers, Manufacturers and Suppliers of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) proposes to change legislation in order to ensure the safety of health workers. The Association proposes to tighten and specify the requirements for the purchase of respirators and other protective equipment by state medical organizations. Recently, the organization sent a corresponding appeal to the Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Health Protection Badma Bashankaev.

As the president of the association, Vladimir Kotov, told MK, the problem was discovered during the coronavirus period, when the production and purchase of personal protective equipment for doctors became especially relevant. The fact is that, in accordance with the current legislation, government organizations often choose the supplier that offers the lowest price. With the purchase of protective equipment, this has been shown to endanger doctors and other healthcare workers interacting with those suffering from deadly diseases. Analyzing the practice of bidding, representatives of the association found that many PPE were bought and bought at prices that are significantly lower than the cost of their production.

Testing of such funds showed that their quality corresponds to the price. That is, they do not provide full-fledged protection, and health workers who are called upon to save the lives of patients themselves risk at least being in a hospital bed. The problem is that these protective properties of such products are usually accompanied by illegitimate documents. Social activists propose to prescribe an examination of such documents in the rules for conducting auctions. In addition, they propose to abandon the vague term “medical respirator” and other similar terms as not reflecting the purpose of protective products. In their opinion, such names, while indicating the scope, do not indicate what they can protect against and may mislead a potential buyer.