Bengaluru Makes Half of India’s PPEs
Nearly 50% of 1 lakh PPEs per day
According to the Centre, nearly 50% of the 1 lakh PPEs (Personal Protective Equipment) being produced daily are produced in Bengaluru and it has emerged as the hub for coverall PPE manufacturing in the country.
Ministry of Health & Family Welfare has prescribed stringent technical requirements for making PPE, as it is a specialized protective suit meant for providing a high level of protection to the health professionals. For the hospitals and healthcare organizations under the ministry, government-run HLL Lifecare Limited is the designated single-window procurement agency. Approximately one million units are the cumulative production to date.
Apart from Bengaluru, PPEs are being manufactured by approved production units in Chennai, Coimbatore, Tirupur, in Tamil Nadu; Bhiwandi and Kusum Nagar in Maharashtra; Vadodara, and Ahmedabad in Gujarat; Ludhiana, and Phagwara in Punjab, Dungarpur in Rajasthan, Gurugram, Noida, Delhi, Kolkata, and few
WHO prescribed the technical standard for the Coveralls to be class-3 exposure pressure in accordance with ISO 16003 or its equivalent, during the last week of January 2020. Only a few international companies were manufacturing such materials. But due to the ban on exports by the source
countries, those companies cannot continue to supply. Thus, companies offered only a limited quantity.For the high level of protection of the healthcare professionals, considering the indigenous availability of materials, and the technical requirement for, in consultation with the medical experts, the ministry finalized the technical requirement on March 2.
Currently, In India, there are four laboratories that have necessary approvals for conducting tests and certification for PPE required for Covid-19 and the synthetic blood penetration resistance test facilities. The four labs include South India Textiles Research Association (SITRA), Coimbatore, Small Arms Factory, Kanpur, two laboratories under Ordnance Factory Board – Heavy Vehicles Factory, Avadi, and Defence Research and Development Establishment (DRDE), Gwalior.
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Bengaluru Makes Half of India’s PPEs
