COVID: Railways produces 1.91 lakh PPE gowns, 66.4 kl sanitizer, 7.33 lakh masks

New Delhi: The kind of fight Indian Railways has put up against COVID can be understood from this fact: Railways workshops have manufactured 1.91 lakh PPE gowns, 66.4 kl sanitizer, 7.33 lakh masks till June 24. In coordination with other Ministries and state governments, Railways is totally geared up to meet the challenge of providing protection to its front line medical workers and other operational staff persons, from the COVID-19 pandemic. It is using all its resources in a coordinated manner to create and upgrade its facilities. A press statement issued from the Ministry of Railways mentioned "PPE coverall target for the month of June and July are fixed as 1.5 lakhs each which is likely to be revised upwards. 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 the 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 HLL Life Care, PSU under the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, for requirements of all Railway Units. Ministry has designated 50 Railway Hospitals as COVID-19 dedicated hospitals and COVID-19 dedicated health centres. Facilities at these hospitals were upgraded through the procurement of medical equipment and other items to meet the challenge of COVID-19 Pandemic.

Protective gears like PPE coverall, masks, sanitizers and equipment like ventilators were in extremely short supply globally, during the initial phase of COVID-19.
5,231 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. Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has already issued a guidance document on appropriate management of suspect and confirmed cases on Railway coaches- COVID Care centres.

"Railways supply chain, though affected due to the pandemic, it did not affect Railways' operations and maintenance due to operations being on the lower scale and stocks being available in our depots, our vendors are also being supported to maintain their supply chain" the release further added. Necessary instructions have also been issued to field units in this respect. "The Railways could also continue its required procurement due to its digital supply chain and all material required for pandemic management could be arranged" it concluded.

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