As the demand for protective gear and medical face masks grow in the country amid rising COVID-19 cases, various stakeholders have vouched for innovation, design and ramping up manufacturing of reusable PPE kits by the Indian textile and apparel sector to save healthcare workers.

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"Indian textile industry should seize global leadership position to produce disposable and reusable personal protection equipment," said Dr Devi Shetty, Chairman, Narayana Health while virtually addressing members of Karnataka Textile Mills Association (KTMA) during the webinar titled 'Textiles, Apparels and PPE post COVID-19'. "Indian entrepreneurs have an opportunity to get their technology, processes, production and warehousing facilities to stock and ship these products once the next pandemic hit the world," he added.

C Valliappa, Chairman, KTMA and VeeProtect, a PPE manufacturer, assured that members of KTMA will rise up to the occasion so that the hospitals don't have to carry inventory. Dr Anthony Schwartz, Director of Biological Safety, Duke University Health System in North Carolina in the US underlined the critical role of bio-safety experts in determining the safety of PPE equipment being provided to healthcare professionals. As part of its sustainability efforts, he shared methods devised by the Duke University Health System to make PPEs worthy of re-use without compromising safety aspects.

Dr Abhijit Majumdar who is professor of Textiles and Fibre Engineering, IIT, Delhi dwelt upon the need for ensuring sustainability of textile clothing supply chain. These is an acute shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE) kits in the country. Alarmed at the shortage, the Telangana High Court last week directed the state government to provide PPE kits to doctors and other healthcare professionals attending to COVID-19 patients.