ISLAMABAD: The federal cabinet is all set to allow export of Personal Protective Equipments (PPEs), sanitizers and facemasks on the request of domestic industry this week , official sources told Business Recorder. On March 24, 2020, the government had imposed ban on export of PPE items on the recommendations of Ministry of National Health Services, Regulations & Coordination (NNHSR&C). An inquiry was ordered against the Prime Minister's Special Assistant on Health, Dr Zafar Mirza for allegedly exporting 20 million facemasks to China when there was acute shortage in the country due to spread of Covid-19. In March, 2020 Federal Investigation Agency(FIA), which is under direct control of Barrister Shehzad Akbar, PM Special Assistant, had been directed to conduct an inquiry and submit a report to the Cabinet. However, no report has yet been either submitted to the cabinet or made public in this regard. On May 28, Prime Minister's Advisor on Commerce and Investment, Abdul Razak Dawood said that he had received information that some exporters have obtained large orders for facemasks from US, Canada and Europe. This has been achieved by the exporters on their own efforts. "It is part of our strategy to diversify into new segments," he added. Exporters are of the view that since they have obtained confirmed orders from different countries, the government should immediately allow them to export. On May 29, Minister for Science and Technology, Ch Fawad Hussain, in his tweet stated that this week ban on export of PPEs will be completely lifted and Pakistani manufacturers will be able to export Covid-19 related material to the world. The sources said that Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) and other concerned private sector stakeholders have approached Prime Minister Imran Khan and other Ministries/ Division, seeking permission to export PPEs. The prime minister was apprised of the current scenario of economic challenges posed by Covid-19 outbreak, with garments, textile and sports goods industry losing markets of their traditional product lines and shifting towards manufacturing PPEs as they are getting orders for PPEs. "Items like PPEs gowns, facemasks, face shields, etc, can easily fetch between $1 to $2 billion if allowed to be exported. This can create tremendous opportunities for large scale manufacturing industry in Pakistan which is already marred by negative growth rate," said LCCI, President Ifran Iqbal Sheikh in his letter. The domestic industry requested the Prime Minister to allow local manufacturers of class-A medical devices exemption from operation of article 52 of " Medical Devices Rules 2017" notified via SRO 32(1)/2018 rules for the period of the emergency, or for 24 months, whichever is later, from January 16, 2020 onwards and also allow export of these items. The exemption from operation of this article will save businesses related to this sector from lengthy litigation processes. Engineering Development Board (EDB) is also formulating its own policy on local manufacturing of medical & health devices and PPEs. For this purpose, a meeting was held on May 11, with Minister for Industries and Production, Hammad Azhar in the chair and attended by stakeholders concerned. The minister informed the meeting that the EDB is coordinating between equipment designers, government agencies and local industry in making available local manufacturing expertise especially in the automotive parts industry to develop medical, surgical and PPE equipment locally.
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