The scandal surrounding the emergency procurement of medical supplies during the confinement period is far from dying out. Pravind Jugnauth’s evasive answers to questions at the parliament on purchases by his government stirs more doubt, sounding  even more weird when he goes to the extent of urging people to feel grateful to the mysterious company Pack & Blister for having agreed to supply Mauritius. While the whole exercise was due to be an emergency procurement with full payment upon order as a prerequisite, months later the fifty ventilators VG70, each costing  45 998 USD are yet to be delivered.

Capital has taken a particular interest in the cost of these ventilators and we have observed that the Emergency Global Supplies Catalogue(COVID-19) of the World health Organisation ( WHO) indicates a price range of 7,250 USD  – 28,384 USD per unit . While Mauritian government through pure magic discovered the existence of the mysterious Spanish company, Pack & Blister, at the same moment  one of Spain’s most prominent companies IBERDROLA acquired 400 VG70 directly from Chinese suppliers at the unit price of 29 000 Euro . Even more stunning  Chinese e- commerce platform Alibaba offers the same VG70 for a price range of 18000 – 20000 USD for a minimum order of 50 units ( customizable ) and a delivery lead time of 20 days.

May be somebody should explain to former Minister of Information Technology and current Prime Minister Pravind Jugnauth  the story of Alibaba … well we mean,  the e-commerce platform.