If one were to give the devil its due, then Telugu Desam Party president and former Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu has to be credited for establishing Andhra Pradesh MedTech Zone (AMTZ) in Visakhapatnam which has now come in handy for the state government in manufacture of medical equipment to fight the Coronavirus in the state.
There were large scale allegations of corruption against Naidu during the establishment of the AMTZ, including allotment of 250 acres of land in Visakhapatnam and also irregularities in bringing in companies to set up their units in the zone.
Soon after coming to power in May 2019, YSR Congress president and chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy abolished the existing board of AMTZ and constituted a new board. Investigation was also ordered into the allegations of corruption in the project.
Now, with Coronavirus scare spreading across the state, the Jagan government thought of making the best use of this AMTZ to manufacture the medical equipment. On Wednesday, the chief minister launched the Covid-19 testing kits manufactured in AMTZ.
“It is a prestigious medical equipment manufacturing zone in entire India and is in a position to serve the country in difficult times,” Industries minister Mekapati Gautam Reddy said.
The Indian Council of Medical Research has approved the kits to be manufactured at AMTZ while the Drug Controller General of India granted exemption from all manufacturing approvals for ventilators in view of the current crisis.
Now, the AMTZ has started to manufacturing 2000 testing kits for COVID-19 per day and will soon step up the capacity to 25,000 kits per day which would be supplied to the entire country.
Further, AMTZ will start producing 3,000 ventilators from 15th April, 2020 and gradually scale it up to 6,000 per month from May, 2020.
Hindustan Lifecare (HLL) will assist in the assembly of the ventilators. The Centre has already placed an order for 3,500 ventilators and assembling of the units will start from April 15.
