NEW DELHI : The union health ministry’s central procurement agency--- HLL Lifecare Limited formerly Hindustan Latex Limited (HLL) unearthed a company from Singapore who tried to dispatch millions of substandard Chinese KN95 masks in 2021 to India by forging third party inspections certificate, two senior officials of the health ministry said on Tuesday.
A central procurement agency i.e. HLL Lifecare Limited was finalized in February, 2020 to accelerate emergency procurement of essential medical commodities during the covid-19 pandemic. “HLL supported the central procurement division in the preparation of bidding documents as well as in bidding, evaluation and award of the contract.
It also helped in managing the supply chain to deliver commodities according to the needs of the states," said the first official.
Meanwhile, a World Bank report also lauded that HLL hired inspection agencies to undertake pre-dispatch inspections at manufacturing sites.