Rational use of PPE and preventing PPE related skin damage

Sureka, Binit; Nag, Vijaya Lakshmi; Garg, Mahendra Kumar; Tak, Vibhor; Banerjee, Mithu; Bishnoi, Ashok; Misra, Sanjeev

On 31(st) December, 2019, an outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) was declared in Wuhan, China. On 24 March 2020, there was a nationwide lockdown for 21 days, followed by Janata curfew on 22(nd) March. As the pandemic has developed and spread across continents, everyone including policy makers have realized shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE) such as N95 respirators, coverall, and face shields. This is one of the major factors putting healthcare workers not only at risk of infection but also to various side effects of prolonged use of PPE. Based on international experiences, new ideas in procuring and mass manufacturing, rational use of PPE equipment is the need of hour, especially for developing nations which lack adequate resources and infrastructure for manufacturing PPEs.