Dodgy Chinese medical supplies rejected by many countries
Countries across Europe and around the world are rejecting substandard medical supplies from China as the Covid-19 pandemic continues to sweep parts of the globe and the death toll continues to climb. Germany, Belgium and Holland have joined the ranks of other nations, including Canada, Spain and Slovakia, complaining of unreliable test kits, inaccurate thermometers and shoddy Personal Protection Equipment.
“Facemasks are one of the crucial PPE items to prevent the spread of the virus. Medical staff need them to protect themselves when treating patients, while ordinary citizens are often legally obliged to wear them when going outside. China is among the world’s largest manufacturing bases for PPE and other medical supplies.”
German news magazine Der Spiegel reported last Friday that German Federal Transport Minister Andreas Scheuer complained…
“11 million masks were junk.”
The director of the German textile company that purchased masks from China said his employees checked the products and found that they were of poor quality.
“The filter function of some masks did not work properly, while others had broken elastic.”
The company cancelled the order and later found a different Chinese supplier to purchase the masks.
Brussels Times reported that Belgium rejected 3 million masks imported from China.
“Because they did not meet the required quality standards. At first glance, there were problems with them. We had them tested. The Federal Public Economy Service confirmed that the Chinese supplier had not been able to provide conclusive test certificates. Even more the masks were of unacceptable quality after an additional test in a Belgian lab.”
Holland also recalled 600,000 faulty masks from Dutch hospitals. They were part of a shipment of 1.3 million masks that were purchased and imported from China on March 21.
On Sunday, the Chinese government addressed the quality of exported medical goods at a press conference in Beijing held by the State Council, the equivalent of China’s Cabinet.
With regard to low-quality products, Li Xingqian, the director of the foreign trade department at China’s Commerce Ministry, claimed that this was because Chinese standards are different from those of other countries.
He admitted that some Chinese exporters exported non-medical masks as medical masks, while some Chinese manufacturers sold their products at “an abnormal price.”
Dan Harris, a Seattle-based lawyer, posted on his firm’s website on April 21 about scams by PPE suppliers in China.
In the past few months, the firm found that some Chinese companies used false certifications to export unqualified products, while other Chinese exporters were brokers who had no product on hand.
SOURCES: Chiang Rai Times | The Epoch Times
