PUDUCHERRY: With high demand for personal protective equipment (PPE), a Puducherry vendor is manufacturing PPEs (Hazmat suits) for health workers to supply to government, following approval from District Collector T Arun.
Sastha Garments, a Puducherry based garment manufacturer would be delivering 1000 PPEs as its first order within two days, said V Poongothai, the head of the garment company. The idea to make PPEs came from her doctor son, who has just completed his MBBS.
The company, which has been manufacturing shirts, shorts, tracksuits and a whole range of garments, decided to go for PPE manufacturing after knowing about the shortage of PPEs. After gaining all knowledge about the PPEs and the checking the availability of the raw materials, they approached the District Collector for permission to produce PPEs and triple-layered masks.
“We procured the raw materials from Tirupur for PPEs and gave samples to the Health department and then started its production”, she said. Two varieties of PPEs are being manufactured now and should be ready for delivery within a day", she said.
At present the production is being done by a 15 member team that includes Poongothai , her sons , an engineer and a doctor and employees, most of them women engaged for stitching the PPEs
The company is also producing triple-layered masks and would supply 10,000 masks as its first order, Poongothai said.
"The quality testing would be done by a medical team, before being used," said Collector Arun.
The rates of the PPEs has been kept highly competitive at Rs 200 per piece and masks at Rs 8 per piece. "I am doing it to help the government in whatever way possible in combating COVID-19 and not looking at profit," said Poongothai. Also trying to get the spectacles to be worn as part of the PPE, she said. However the N-95 respirator masks could not be manufactured as the raw material could not be procured from Mumbai, she says sadly.
However, the production would help the Health department which has a stock of just 1342 PPEs. The manufacturer is ready to supply more if required, she said adding that on an average 500 PPEs can be produced and supplied per day.