India races to meet Personal Protective Equipment demand

Workers prepare Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) for medical staff at a workshop in Maheshtala in Kolkata. (Express Photo by Partha Paul)

For all healthcare workers who come in contact with suspected or positive cases of COVID-19, it is important to have access to equipment such as Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) to prevent themselves from getting infected.(Express Photo by Partha Paul)

PPEs include items such as gowns, respirators, face masks, safety-footwear harnesses, eye protection gear and gloves. (Express Photo by Partha Paul)

According to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), PPEs are required to ensure the “greatest possible protection” for employees in the workplace. (Express Photo by Partha Paul)

Employees must also be trained in using the PPEs, disposing them off and maintaining them. It is especially important that employees know how to don and take off a PPE to protect themself from getting infected. (Express Photo by Partha Paul)

There is a massive shortage of key personal protective equipment (PPEs) at the district and village levels. (Express Photo by Partha Paul)

As the total number of novel coronavirus cases across the country continued to rise, Prime Minister Narendra Modi Saturday chaired a meeting of Empowered Groups constituted for planning and ensuring implementation of COVID-19 response activities in the nation. and directed concerned groups and officials to ensure sufficient production, procurement and availability of all essential medical equipment such as PPEs, masks, gloves and ventilators. (Express Photo by Partha Paul)

Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan Saturday said ventilator production are in the advanced stages and will reach states soon even as he assured that there is no shortage of PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) kits, N95 masks. (Express Photo by Partha Paul)

The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has urged people to use homemade face masks, saying “such people who are not suffering from any medical condition or having breathing difficulties may use the handmade reusable face cover, particularly when they step out of their house.” (Express Photo by Partha Paul)