Italian-owned Trotustex in Bacau is the largest company tat makes protective gear and uniforms, with more ta RON40 million revenue in 2018. The company could manufacture, if asked to, equipment for medical personnel which complains of the lack of necessary equipment from masks to lab coats and coveralls. So far, Trotustex has done work for companies abroad, including Italy.
To be able to manufacture such products, it needs raw material, which is hard to find at this time, and the government could have a say in that, by facilitating supply.
Trotustex has five textile plants in Romania in Targu-Trotus, Bogdanesti, Comanesti, Buhusi and Giurgiu. In all, it has more than 800 employees. Trotustex makes 300,000 uniforms a year plus 150,000 clothing items under toll manufacturing contracts for various brands. Its core business is protective clothing, military, firemen uniforms and uniforms and gear for various companies. It exports almost its entire production.
Another company that makes protective gear for medical personnel is Matei Conf Grup in Bucharest.
“We could be making extra gear for the medical personnel at this time but have not been asked to. We make lab coats, shirts, coveralls. We supply to all hospitals in Romania,” says an official of the company reached by phone.
With RON23 million revenue in 2018, Matei Conf Grup makes all the necessary equipment for ambulance services and medical uniforms, according to its website.
Europrotect in Dolj County is another company that makes specialized equipment: face shields, masks with filters.
Romanian companies, however, have had little success so far in winning tenders to supply gear for medical personnel, as the selection criterion was most often the lowest bidder, even though the lowest bidder was a foreign company.
As the medical system in Romania is suffering from a lack of necessary equipment amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the production of the almost 400 plants could be adjusted so their products could reach hospitals and doctors.
Sorin Alexandru, a resident at the emergency room of the Emergency Hospital in Craiova has recently said in a Facebook post doctors had to see coronavirus patients dressed in garbage bags sealed with adhesive tape and using other makeshift gear. This exposed doctors to infection, as shown by the high number of cases that doctors who got it especially in the Suceava and Focsani hospitals.
The Romanian government did sign number of framework agreements with suppliers of coveralls, face shields, gloves, masks and disinfectants, but it may take up to 90 days for such products to arrive, while the medical personnel needs them now.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)