COVID-19: Railways plans to produce over 1.3 lakh coveralls for healthcare personnel by May-end
The prototype of the coveralls -- one-piece protective garments -- has been cleared with the highest grades by the DRDO's authorised laboratory in Gwalior after prescribed tests, it said.
"Production units, workshops and field units have started manufacturing the personal protective equipment coveralls for medical and healthcare personnel who get directly exposed to the COVID-19 disease when working amongst infected patients," the Railways said in a statement.
"The Indian Railways will produce over 30,000 such coveralls in April 2020 and plans to manufacture 1,00,000 of the same in May 2020," it said.
The Jagadhari Workshop of the Northern Railways had taken the initiative to design and manufacture the prototype of the coverall, the statement said.
The prototype was tested by the Defence Research Development Establishment Laboratory of the DRDO at Gwalior. This lab is authorised for conducting such tests. It passed all the tests conducted by the DRDE with the highest grades, it said.
"Taking this initiative forward, the Railways has been able to procure and distribute to its workshops and other units sufficient raw material for manufacturing more than 30,000 PPE coveralls in the current month," the national transporter said.
"Production has started and the Railway's own doctors, the end users of these coveralls, have also been involved in trying out these coveralls as their production is ramped up," it said.
According to Union Health Ministry, the death toll due to the coronavirus rose to 392 while the number of cases in the country climbed to 11,933 on Wednesday. ASG GJS ANBANB