Central government hospitals across the country may soon be using Khadi products. According to a report in the Times of India the health ministry has issued an order by which some 23 hospitals like AIIMS, PGI Chandigarh, Jipmer Puducherry and Nimhans Bengaluru have been asked to purchase their supplies from the Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC).
This is probably the largest institutional order for the KVIC since it is estimated that central government hospitals are looking to buy goods worth Rs 150 crore. A committee which was set up last year finalised a list of some 45 items that these hospitals will be buying from the KVIC. They include soaps, doctors' coats, curtains, linen and gowns for both patients and the staff.
Khadi has received a huge push since the BJP came to power in 2014. Its sales have gone up and although it continues to lag in production, it has managed to get some major instititional deals, with the Indian Rilways and the ONGC. The KVIC maintains that they bagged the deals not because the government simply nominated them but through a tough competitive process.
The KVIC chairman, V K Saxena, lauded Union health Minister, J P Nadda for prescribing khadi to medical institutions associated with the ministry and said that khadi is 'most natural and organic skin-friendly' fabric and its adoption by the Health Ministry will provide much-needed support to the artisans.
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