PNB Housing Finance signs pact with IIT Delhi to develop sustainable PPE kits

May 6, 2020, 15:07 IST

In this photo taken on Tuesday, April 21, 2020, a medical worker puts on protective gear in order to assist coronavirus patients at the intensive care unit of Vinogradov City Clinical Hospital in Moscow, Russia. Reports of Russian medical workers becoming infected with the coronavirus are emerging almost daily as the country copes with a growing number of patients.Photo/Pavel Golovkin)

PNB Housing Finance on Wednesday said it has signed a pact with IIT-Delhi for developing sustainable and reusable personal protective equipment (PPE) kits for healthcare workers.Under the agreement, the PNB Housing Finance Ltd (PNBHFL) will support research and development of a unique prototype material to be used in manufacturing sustainable (washable and reusable) PPE surgical gowns and masks.

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The PPE kits developed will then be supplied to government hospitals, PNBHFL said in a release.

In managing patients afflicted with the highly-contagious COVID-19, healthcare workers rely heavily on PPE kits in protecting themselves from being infected or infecting others.

But a shortage of PPE kits is exposing doctors, nurses and other frontline workers to the risk of infection while caring for COVID-19 patients.