'Steered textiles to global scale': Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw lauds Smriti Irani on PPE output

Asia’s leading Biopharmaceuticals enterprise Biocon Limited's Executive Chairperson Kiran Mazumdar Shaw has praised Union Textile Minister Smriti Irani for her leadership and promptness in utilising the textile industry in manufacturing Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs) which are essential for the frontline warriors in the COVID-19 battle.

Taking to Twitter, the Biocon chairperson lauded the union textile minister for steering the textile and garment industry through regulatory and other speed bumps in manufacturing a record number of PPEs on a daily basis.

READ | Maharashtra Govt Mulls Lockdown Extension In Mumbai, Pune As Covid Count Soars: Report

READ | Portals Of Badrinath Shrine Open Sans Devotees Amid Covid Enforced Lockdown

India has now achieved an almost unrealistic goal of producing nearly three lakh PPE kits daily within three months after the coronavirus outbreak. A PPE kit consists of a mask, eye shield, shoe cover, gown, and gloves, which doctors and healthcare workers wear during the treatment of COVID-19 patients. A senior Health Ministry official had earlier said that that there was no domestic manufacturing of PPE kit in the country and almost all of them were imported. 

Even Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal while addressing the G20 Virtual Trade and Investment Ministers Meeting, highlighted India's achievement in large scale manufacturing of PPEs. He said, "When the pandemic broke out, India barely produced a few thousand pieces of Personal Protective Equipment. We had never needed PPEs in large numbers ever before. When we realised that countries were not able to supply enough for our needs, our domestic manufacturers created and ramped up capacities. So much so, that we now produce nearly 300,000 PPEs every day."

READ | 'Supplied Medicines To 120 Countries': Goyal Iterates Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam Mantra At G20

READ | PM Modi, Danish Counterpart Discuss Ways To Work Together In Covid-affected World