Big help! Indian Railways makes 1.91 lakh PPE gowns, 7.33 lakh masks till 24th June

More than meeting its June target of making 1.5 lakh PPE gowns, the Indian Railways has produced 1.91 lakh PPE gowns till 24th June 2020. In its bid to help the nation fight against Coronavirus, the Indian Railway workshops took up the challenge and manufactured PPE coveralls, sanitizer, masks, cots in-house. Raw material for manufacturing of these items was also procured by the field units. 1.91 lakh PPE gowns, 66.4 kl sanitizer, 7.33 lakh masks etc have been manufactured by Indian Railways till . PPE coverall targets for the month of June and July are fixed as 1.5 lakhs each which is likely to be revised upwards.

The Railway Ministry informed about the feat from its official Twitter handle and said, "Indian Railways produce 1.91 lakh PPE gowns, 66.4 kl sanitizer and 7.33 lakh masks till 24/06/2020. PPE coverall targets for the month of June and July are fixed as 1.5 lakhs each."

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During the lockdown period, centralized procurement and distribution of the raw material and manufactured products throughout the Railway network was a herculean task accomplished under testing circumstances. Northern Railway was nominated for centralized procurement of raw material required for manufacture of PPE coverall gowns which was a critical component with respect to quality. All in-house manufactured products satisfy all applicable quality standards. To further strengthen the preparedness of Railway, an order for PPE coverall (22 lakhs), N95 Masks (22.5 lakh), Hand sanitizer 500 ml (2.25 lakh) and other items was centrally placed by northern Railway on M/s HLL Life Care (PSU under MoHFW), for requirements of all Railway Units.

The Ministry of Railways has designated 50 Railway Hospitals as COVID Dedicated Hospitals and COVID Dedicated Health Centers. Facilities at these hospitals were upgraded through procurement of medical equipment and other items to meet the challenge of COVID Pandemic.

Protective gears like PPE coverall, masks, sanitizers and equipment like ventilators were in extreme short supply globally, during the initial phase of COVID-19. 5231 Railway coaches have already been converted to isolation coaches to serve as the Covid Care Centers to augment the capacity of health infrastructure in the country. 960  coaches have so far been placed in service at several locations based on the requests received from the States. The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has already issued guidance documents on appropriate management of suspect/ confirmed cases on Railway coaches- COVID Care Centres.