COVID-19: Vedanta so far produces around 15,000 PPEs

Vedanta Ltd on Thursday said it has enabled mass production of personal protective equipment (PPEs) in Gurugram and around 15,000 PPE have been manufactured so far to support frontline healthcare workers and doctors in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

Recently, the company imported 23 PPE machines in collaboration with the Ministry of Textiles, and has teamed up with authorised apparel manufacturers to produce 5,000 PPE per day.

The company has also provided over 3.5 lakh masks through its business units to local communities and has handed over another 2 lakh N95 masks to the Ministry of Health.

"India has shown tremendous resilience in fighting the impact of COVID-19. We have earned goodwill from the world for supplying critical medicines to many countries. I am confident that we will rise above this setback. We are working towards creating a New India and will help create a self-reliant economy as the lockdown lifts in a calibrated manner," Vedanta Chairman Anil Agarwal said.

As part of strategy to support the local community, Vedanta is now focusing on innovative solutions to support the poor and the marginalised.

The company has spent Rs 151 crore on COVID-19 initiatives till now, and has reached out to over 7 lakh community members across 7 states in the past one month.

Hindustan Zinc, a Vedanta group company, has started an innovative movement, Grain Bank, wherein Sakhi SHG women collect grains and pulses at the village level so as to reach out to the daily wage earners.

More than 8,000 kg of foodgrains have been procured under this plan, which is now being adopted by other Vedanta business units as well.

Vedanta Lanjigarh is offering telemedicine facility to the local communities in the region, helping patients connect with doctors for free consultations.

A team of specialist doctors, including pediatricians, orthopedicians, general physicians, and Aayush doctors attends to the sick people over phone and WhatsApp every day and medicines can be collected from Vedanta hospital pharmacy free of cost.