GP Nord: medical cargo for Covid-19 crysis in Latvia

Working in Latvia, it quickly became clear that we are also very much needed in the local market as a company that supplies “inconvenient” products. Those that are cheap but difficult to access often have to be brought from the United States or Canada. By working in this way, we have gained a reputation as people you can count on. Pharmacy managers no longer had to listen to patients’ reproaches or hospital procurement managers no longer had to justify themselves to doctors and planned procedures could be completed on time.

In early 2020, when COVID-19 began to take over China, we witnessed literally all personal protective equipment drain away from Europe, i.e. Latvia to China. China made this redemption on purpose and with enormous capacity: they had physically sent buyers to every EU country, who often simply “combed” the DEPO to send as many respirators, masks, suits, goggles as possible to China in the shortest possible time, boot swabs, gloves, thermometers, etc. During this time, we were approached by Latvian Hospital buyers with a request as to whether we could supply them with FFP3 respirators – we delivered them to them. When we made purchases in different European countries, it was clear that the market was being emptied at such a rate that local medical institutions simply did not have enough respirators to perform their daily functions. With our resources, it seemed to us that we successfully coped with the supply of PPE to the largest Latvian hospitals, until it became clear that Covid19 would definitely appear in Latvia as well.

On 16 March 2020, GP Nord was invited to the Ministry of Health to participate in a meeting on the procurement of PPE. Most likely, we were invited, because to this day no hospital has had to hear from us – “unfortunately we have no idea how to provide you with the necessary medicines” or “unfortunately we do not have in stock and do not know when it will be!” – We always had a solution. During the meeting, the possible delivery of face masks and respirators from China was discussed. By then, we had received a number of small shipments from China and we were confident that China would be able to meet our “meager” demand. After receiving confirmation that we could take action, we had left the Ministry of Health with a huge responsibility – we must ensure the emergency supply of PPE to the NMPD! An organization that fights with Covid19 in the front ranks.

The Chinese demanded 100% prepayment from us. In addition, the difficult logistics route to Latvia was ahead. It was agreed that we will send face masks in installments – 100k masks a day to spread the risks and reduce the amount of cargo, thus increasing our chances of receiving shipments on time. After the first batch was sent out, it became clear that the tactic would not work because China had “woken up.” After the Chinese New Year and Covid19 insulation, production in all spheres was fully resumed and shipments with Chinese raw materials and finished products quickly overcrowded courier services. We shipped the product in parallel with DHL, FedEx, and UPS, but all courier companies had the same problem: they prioritized small loads and left everything above 5 boxes simply “for later”.

Meanwhile, Latvian hospitals were preparing for the worst-case scenario – the expiration of masks and respirators, the reduction of services, switching and alternative methods. In terms of time, stocks would have been enough for only a week – just before the delivery date specified in our contract.