Rajasthan health secy seeks report on PPE kits after complaints of poor quality
About 10 nursing staff at Jaipur’s SMS hospital had complained of suffocation and discomfort after wearing the PPE kits to tend to Covid-19 patients.
Rajasthan health secretary Rohit Kumar Singh on Wednesday sought a report from the Rajasthan Medical Services Corporation Ltd after complaints of poor-quality PPE kits being supplied to medical staff at SMS hospital in Jaipur.

“I have asked RMSCL managing director Pritam Yaswant to submit a report on the tendering and procurement of the PPE (personal protective equipment) kits,” said Singh who is also the additional chief secretary (ACS).
He said there was no shortage of PPE kits and procurement was in line with the Centre’s guidelines.
“I can tell you there is no shortage of good PPE kits in the state,” he said. “We are procuring kits as per the guidelines set by the government of India. RMSCL procures kits and we get some from the central government. We are supplying the ones we get from the Centre to SMS hospital.”
Singh’s directive came after SMS hospital principal Dr Sudhir Bhandari wrote about complaints regarding the quality of PPE kits, which are used by medical staff while tending to Covid-19 patients.
Dr Bhandari said he had forwarded the complaint letter that was received 5-6 days back to the health secretary. “I received a written complaint from 8-10 nursing staff and I forwarded it to ACS asking that the matter be looked into,” he said.
Dr Bhandari’s letter (HT has a copy) says complaints have been received that the PPE kits are of poor quality, torn and made from plastic. It says medical staff complained about suffocation and discomfort after wearing the kits.
He said he did not think there was an issue with the quality of the PPE kits. “After I received the complaint, I enquired from professors and doctors about the quality of PPE kits but they did not express any dissatisfaction with the kits,” he said. “There are 1,800 nursing staff in the hospital but no major complaints have been received. A few of them have complained. It’s not a serious matter.”
Meanwhile, a day after SMS hospital was declared corona-free and opened to the general public, a rash of cases from the hospital staff were recorded. The hospital administration was in a flap as 23 staff from various departments tested positive. Most of those infected are from Ramganj area which was a Covid-19 hotspot but the health department has said the situation is now normalising.
Those who tested positive include a doctor from the microbiology department, seven ward boys, one ward lady, five helpers in the pharmacy, one computer operator, two sanitation staff, two trolleymen, three guards and one medical machine repairman, according to the health department.
Meanwhile, tourism minister Vishvendra Singh took to social media to highlight alleged negligence by the Bharatpur medical college. He said the sample reports of his security guard and RTDC staff which had been negative after testing in SMS hospital were listed as positive by the Bharatpur Medical College.
In his tweet, he said after the news came out, there was a feeling of fear among people. The minister said he had got the matter investigated and it came to light that the error occurred due to wrong data entry.
