The COVID-19 pandemic is the defining global health crisis that the world is currently facing. The virus has spread all over the world, and the number of cases is rising every single day as governments work to slow its spread. The global response to the unfolding COVID-19 crisis saw countries implementing countrywide or partial lockdowns, the announcement of stimulus packages and relief measures to tackle the harsh economic impact of the pandemic. The virus also overwhelmed the global production capacity of PPE which is the most critical product to protect the front-line health workers and other responders. Surging demand for PPE kits along with disrupted global supply chain amid the Covid-19 pandemic was putting lives at risk.
India moved quickly, implementing a nationwide lockdown with the goal of flattening the curve and using the time to plan resource responses, adequately. The Prime Minister assured the country that there are ample reserves of medicines, PPE kits, food and other essential goods.
India realized the critical role of PPE in combating this pandemic as early as March, wherein the Ministry of Textiles stepped to lead the assessment of the availability of all protective wears for our frontline health workers.
What followed this, is a remarkable journey of collaboration between governments at the central and state levels, industries and workers to revamp existing production lines to manufacture a completely unknown product, from scratch.
- From 0, India now produces nearly 4.5 lakh PPE kits every single day.
- In 60 days, the PPE industry in India has witnessed 56 times growth.
This is a testimony to the government of India’s concerted efforts of improving domestic manufacturing capacity on the back of its industrious manufacturing sector at such challenging times. Before we proceed further, we must understand what PPE exactly is.
What is Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)?
Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs) are protective gears designed to safeguard the health of workers by minimizing the exposure to a biological agent. PPEs include goggles, face-shield, masks (Surgical/N-95), gloves (surgical/examination), coverall/gowns (with or without aprons), head cover and shoe cover.
The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare released a set of guidelines for the rational use of PPE for health care workers and for others who work at various point of entries, quarantine centres, hospitals, laboratories, primary healthcare and community settings.
The guidelines emphasize the need to select the right type of PPE based on the estimated risk of contamination, the reuse of PPEs when there is a shortage and, the procedures to be followed on how to wear them.