Coronavirus: unrestrained competition between states in the race for medical equipment

By: Anne Cantener Follow

Despite the precautions and confinement of almost one in two people in the world, the coronavirus continues to progress almost exponentially. Almost everywhere, caregivers, residents, therefore need equipment. Masks, protective gowns or even respirators to treat the sick.

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The problem is that many countries lack them and that all of them currently want the same products at the same time. The result is unrestrained competition between states, the rise of obscure middlemen and completely disrupted public purchasing methods.

The competition for medical equipment is our decryption of the day.

With:

- Laurence Folliot Lalliot , Professor of Public Law at Paris-Nanterre University , specialist in international orders. She worked at the World Bank as a lawyer specializing in reforms to national public procurement systems. Author of a column published in Le Monde on March 30 which denounces competition between States over the purchase of medical and sanitary equipment.

- Isabelle Marchais , expert in European affairs at the Jacques Delors Institute . Author of a study released in the midst of a health crisis: Health: a very good European added value.

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• Coronavirus
• Health and Medicine
• Competition

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