HITES floats tender seeking supply of over 10 million units of medical supplies towards COVID testing

This tender comes close on heels of Central Government amending rules in terms of testing

The pre-bid conference of Government Agency HLL Lifecare saw participation from over 100 companies interested in supplying medical supplies for COVID testing. HLL Infra Tech Services (HITES), a fully owned subsidiary of HLL Lifecare (HLL), on behalf of Indian Council of Medical Research has floated a tender seeking supply of over 10 million units of medical supplies towards the COVID testing. The tender has requested for quotations for 4 million units of Viral Transport Media, 3.3 million of RNA extraction kits and 2.9 million of combo RT-PCR COVID-19 tests.

HLL Lifecare is the procurement agency for the hospitals and healthcare organisations under the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Government of India. The last date of submission for the tender is May 17 within seven days of being floated. Over 85 companies were present on the virtual platform for the pre-bid conference while the remaining had sent representatives. The Viral Transport Media is used for transport of swabs collected for testing, RNA extraction kits are used to draw out RNA, which are single strand genetic materials of viruses, from samples which are then converted into reverse-transcribed into DNA while combo RT-PCR tests has proven to be the ‘gold standard’ of COVID-19 diagnosis.

This tender comes close on the heels of the Central Government amending rules in terms of testing. As per the new policy, very mild or mild and moderate patients can be discharged without COVID-19 test, subject to clinical conditions. The new rules come into effect as India braces for a jump in Coronavirus cases, with mathematical modelling showing the peak of infections may come in June-July.