The Indian Railways will now produce up to 1000 Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) type overalls on an everyday basis across 17 workshops. These protective overalls would be used by the Railway Doctors and the paramedics.

The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has also approved a PPE type overall produced by the Jagadhari workshop. The Ministry of Railways had also informed that the approved overall would be used for making other protective overalls in different workshops.

Facilities are being geared up in Railways to make up to 1000 such protective overalls for Railway Doctors & Paramedics every day. Around 17 workshops would be striving to contribute to this exercise: Ministry of Railways https://t.co/YFlUOEouw8 — ANI (@ANI) April 7, 2020

Raw materials for the overalls would be sourced from a Yamunanagar-based vendor, approved by the Ministry of Textiles. “Technical specifications of these PPEs are now ready, and material suppliers are in place. Now the production can start in right earnest. This development is a big boost to equip our doctors and paramedics on the front line of this battle against COVID-19”, the national carrier said in a statement.

Earlier, the Indian Railways came up with a remarkably ingenious solution to support the country’s public health system. It had decided to convert its coaches into quarantine wards for the treatment of patients infected by the Chinese virus. Furthermore, the Indian Railways had also offered to prepare 3 lakh patient beds if the need arose in the future.

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In addition, all Railway divisions had identified a ward or building for setting up isolation beds for the Coronavirus patients. Similarly, Indian Railways Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) fleshed out a plan to provide meals in different parts of the country and hospitals if the need arose. Pantry cars will be disinfected and converted into the mobile kitchen so as to ensure a healthy and adequate supply of food at stations where there are no base kitchens.

On March 27, the official Twitter handle of the Indian Railways informed that more than 1,00,000 wagons of essential items had been readied in the wake of the Wuhan Coronavirus outbreak. The essential supplies included the likes of foodgrains, fruits, vegetables, sugar, salt, dairy products, coal, and petroleum products. The feat was achieved within 4 days wherein workers toiled 24 hours round the clock.