“We were unemployed because of the lockdown. Our family was not getting enough food. Our self-help group got us this job. Now we are quite easily meeting our household expenses,” said Navrin Jehan, from Lakhimpur Khiri district in Uttar Pradesh who, along with others, is making low-cost Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) kits for protection against coronavirus.

A self-help group in Lakhimpur Khiri has taken up the task of making low-cost PPE kits. The work of these women belonging to the self-help group has been appreciated by the Indian Army. The Army has ordered a consignment of 2,000 PPE kits manufactured by the women from this self-help group (SHG).

Santosh Singh, the district block development officer (BDO) said that 150 women from the SHG are regularly engaged in the work of making PPE kits in six blocks of the district. A woman prepares five to six kits every day, thereby earning Rs 450- 600 a day.

The block mission manager of this self-help group, Anamika Bharti, said that the women who manufacture these PPE kits are fully sanitized before they enter the centre. All the instructions issued by the World Health Organisation (WHO) are being strictly adhered to. All women wear masks and make PPE kits while observing social distancing.

Singh said that although they are getting several orders from other districts, because of the lockdown, they are not able to deliver to them. All kits manufactured by them get exhausted locally.

He added: “These women were facing a livelihood crisis due to the lockdown. It was suggested by our chief development officer that PPE kits should be manufactured by the women from self-help group. The chief medical officer was then consulted upon the matter. In the first phase, samples were prepared and sent to the Ministry of Health. After meeting the prescribed safety standards and getting a no-objection from the ministry, PPE manufacturing has been undertaken on a war footing.”