Health Ministry said they finalised the medical requirement on 2 March, based on which the tender was issued first on 5 March and revised on 23 March.

So far, six Indian manufacturers have passed the prescribed tests for medical products which is essential to get the tender. But many manufacturers who are willing to supply the product to the government are unable to function because of the lockdown.

This indicates how haphazard and disorganised the government's response has been to the pandemic.

Why didn’t the government anticipate the current situation way back in January when the virus was exploding in China, or even in February, when it was making its way across the world, and prepare for this eventuality?

With curfew and the lockdown… how does the government plan to mobilise medical kits to the doctors and paramedics fighting the good, and often dangerous, fight?