Personal Protective Equipment: Challenges and Strategies to Combat COVID-19 in India: A Narrative Review

Abstract

The current outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has become a pandemic. All COVID-19-affected countries in the world are implementing containment interventions and trying their best to fight against the disease to halt the further spread of the infection and to reduce mortality. The public health workforce and healthcare staff in clinical settings are playing a crucial role in the early detection of cases, contact tracing and treatment of patients. The availability of personal protective equipment (PPE) and their consistent, proper use by healthcare providers and public health professionals is a crucial factor in combating any infectious disease in a crisis. The requirement of PPE has exponentially increased, as more and more countries are experiencing the COVID-19 pandemic. The rapid spread of the pandemic has created a temporary shortage of PPE in many countries, including India. The lack of PPE has affected the morale of healthcare workers (HCWs) and other frontline warriors in fighting the coronavirus disease, as more than 22,000 health workers in 56 countries have suffered from COVID-19. Some of them have succumbed to it across all countries, including India (WHO). We have reviewed the available literature to understand the challenges in ensuring adequate availability and consistent use of PPE and the strategies for the rational use of PPE in India. Our study reveals that India has responded swiftly to enhance the accessibility of PPE and put in place strategies for the judicious use of PPE to reduce the incidence of the COVID-19 infection to a bare minimum in healthcare settings. In the present article, we report the current status of COVID-19 among HCWs. We have reviewed the challenges and the surge strategies adopted by India to produce or procure good-quality PPE and supply it to all service delivery points in adequate quantities.

Attitude of dental interns, final year and third-year students towards their involvement in hospital work during COVID-19 pandemic in private dental colleges in Vidarbha, India

“…To conserve PPE for those on the frontlines ghting the coronavirus and to keep patients home, the ADA recommended on March 16, 2020, that dental o ces should restrict their practice to only emergency cases 12 . Even in our study majority of students are afraid to work without PPE kits even though India has managed the condition very well and there is no shortage of PPE kits in India 11 .…”

“…Researches have shown that the lack of PPE has affected the morale of healthcare workers and other frontline warriors in ghting the coronavirus disease 11 . To conserve PPE for those on the frontlines ghting the coronavirus and to keep patients home, the ADA recommended on March 16, 2020, that dental o ces should restrict their practice to only emergency cases 12 .…”

Optimizing Airway Surgery in COVID 19 Era

“…Personal Protective Equipments (PPE) [3,13,28] For all the cases, the PPE used were in accordance with the guidelines issued by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Directorate General of Health Sciences (Emergency Medical Relief).…”

“…Recommendations for an Ideal Use of [6,28] -Hazmat suit or proper full sleeve impermeable disposable gown with visor and foot cover over OT scrubs (we have personally used both and found them to be equally effective) -N 95/ffp2 non valved mask -Reusable half face respirators are found to be most effective to deal with fogging uses, especially in long surgeries [23] -Surgical goggles -Face shield; however face shield is non compliant during use of microscope, when seeing through eyepiece. This can be overcome by visualizing the monitor or by use video-endoscopes -Double non powdered surgical gloves -Proper donning and doffing of PPE and ensuring the proper execution of the sterilization chain [3].…”

COVID-19 Solutions Are Climate Solutions: Lessons From Reusable Gowns

“…At the same time, steady offshoring of PPE to other countries has left the U.S. vulnerable to supply chain disruptions (38). Countries like Spain and India also suffered severe PPE shortages that placed frontline healthcare workers at risk (39). To adequately protect healthcare providers, we must address key vulnerabilities in our PPE supply chain and current practices.…”