With the growing demand for personal protective equipment (PPE) amid the novel coronavirus crisis, the Indian Railways on Wednesday said that it plans to supply 30,000 PPE to medical professionals by April-end.
The railways further said that it plans to manufacture one lakh PPE in May.
A Railway Ministry spokesperson said that the production units, workshops and field units have started manufacturing PPE coveralls for healthcare personnel, who get directly exposed to coronavirus while treating infected patients.
“Indian Railways will produce over 30,000 such coveralls in April 2020 and plan to manufacture one lakh in May,” the official said.
He said in order to fill the gap in availability and requirement of PPE, the Jagadhari workshop of Northern Railway had taken the initiative to design and manufacture the prototype PPE coverall.
“The prototype was tested by Defence Research Development Establishment (DRDO) Laboratory at Gwalior, authorised for conducting such tests,” he said.
The official said that Railway doctors, medical professionals, other health workers and caregivers are working tirelessly to fight coronavirus.