KATHMANDU: Social activist scientist Mahabir Pun has got Nepal Medical Council’s green signal to prepare Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and has started manufacturing it from Thursday.

World Health Organization (WHO) had asked the Nepal government to arrange for PPE as the mandatory tool to take action against coronavirus.

In the absence of safety kits like PPE, the doctors and medical workers have been working staking their health.

After getting an order for PPE from the Dharan-based BP Koirala Institute of Health Sciences and the Maharajgunj-based TU Teaching Hospital on March 24, Pun’s National Invention Center had worked on the designing of it.

Pun’s Invention Center had prepared the first model of PPE and sent it to Nepal Medical Council on Wednesday, March 25. Dr. Bhagawan Koirala, the NMC chairperson and his team have permission to go ahead with the PPE project after finding it meeting WHO standard.

After getting permission from NMC, Pun’s Center has started the PPE preparation from Thursday.

“WE are working from two places in Kathmandu, one at Chappalkarkhana and another at Pepsicola,” Mahabir Pun informed, “we have got 1,500-meter materials for it.”

Pun said that though they had got the garment company to prepare it production was slow as one person could prepare only 7/8 in a day.

“Most of the workers are not in the valley, so we are managing with the ones available here,” Pun said, “However, the bigger problem here is getting the materials required.”

PPE is the protective shield for workers against health or safety risks on the job.

The purpose is to reduce employee exposure to hazards when engineering and administrative controls are not feasible or effective to reduce these risks to acceptable levels. For the safety of the doctors and health workers, they should put on the clothes covering from head to toe.

Nepal has hardly 365 PPE in stock and it has the demand of more than 100 thousand sets.

PPE has high demand all over the world.