India has assured supply of all necessary medical equipment to take on Covid-19, pharma secretary P D Vaghela said on Friday, as the country registered 77 coronavirus deaths in a single day, taking the overall toll to 1,152. The total confirmed cases crossed 35,000 mark.

Vaghela, who heads the empowered group for essential medical supply, said that there is a big global demand for ventilators, PPEs, masks, oxygen and test kits.

“India was largely an importer of these items...Our strategy has been to use this as an opportunity to develop our own technology and manufacturing capability,” Vaghela said.

For instance, in order to meet the requirement for 75,000 ventilators by June, the government has identified sven companies to ramp up manufacturing. More than 60,000 ventilators have been ordered of which 99 per cent will be supplied by local manufacturers.

“We have received the first lot and they are undergoing testing. We should receive 15,000 ventilators this month,” Vaghela said. The government has also for the first time placed orders for oxygen cylinders - all from domestic manufacturers, which is required for all patients who get admitted to ICU. Pharma department is also considering conversion of industrial oxygen to medical use if need arises.

India has also ramped up personal protective equipment manufacturing abilities. From 31,270 PPE kits capacity per day in mid April domestic production increased to 1.86 lakh per day by April 30. “We hardly had any manufacturers of PPEs in the country...Now we are making more than a lakh (100,000) per day,” Vaghela added.

As on Friday India had conducted 902,654 Covid tests. The total demand for RT-PCR test is estimated around 35 lakh for the next two months against which the Indian Council of Medical Research has placed the orders for 2.13 million kits.