This Indian doctor made her own personal protective equipment (PPE) from a car cover after watching videos on YouTube.

Dr Geeta Rani, a gynaecologist in Bhagalpur, found the government was unable to meet the demand for PPE during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Dr Rani bought a disposable PPE online and said: “It was of poor quality and expensive as well. It had to be disposed of after eight hours and we could not afford to give it to all our staff."

So she started looking at the YouTube videos of the PPE worn by Chinese doctors and understood how they worked. She decided to make one for herself and started looking for an ideal material.

A car cover she had recently bought for £7 could repel liquid and was big enough to cover her face and body so she gave it to her tailor.

"It is for the experts to find the ideal material and make quality PPE widely available. Till that happens we need to think practically," Dr Rani adds.

"Developing countries cannot afford disposable PPE. I thoroughly sanitise my PPE with soap, dry it in sunlight and use it again," she said.

Thinking out of the box an Indian doctor has developed a reusable Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) to help developing countries battle the Covd 19 virus.

Dr Geeta Rani found that the demand for PPEs shot up in her hospital in Bhagalpur in Eastern India as Covid 19 cases started pouring in.

The government was unable to supply the required number of the protective gear leaving the medical staff to fend for themselves.

Dr Rani bought a disposable PPE in black market. “It was of poor quality and expensive as well. It had to be disposed of after eight hours and we could not afford to give it to all our staff,” she says.

So she started looking at the Youtube videos of PPEs worn by Chinese doctors and understood how they worked. She decided to make one for herself and started looking for an ideal material.

Given that the lockdown had shut down shops, she had to do with what she had at home.

Dr Rani found that a new car cover she had purchased for £ 7 served the purpose. It was non-porous, hydrophobic - could repel liquid - and was big enough for a body length suit including a face shield. She gave it to her tailor and asked him to stitch to her specifications.

She has been using her homemade PPE without catching any infection. She now plans to add a plastic layer to further block the micro droplets which may sneak in.

‘Depending on the skill of my tailor, I also want to add an intervening layer of foam later to absorb the droplets,” she says.

“It is for the experts to find the ideal material and make quality PPEs widely available. Till that happens we need to think practically,” Dr Rani adds.

“Developing countries cannot afford disposable PPEs. I thoroughly sanitise my PPE with soap, dry it in sunlight and use it again,” she says.

Dr Rani also advocates the use of umbrellas to facilitate maintaining social distance.

“Governments should make umbrellas mandatory along with masks,” she says.

Dr Rani, a gynaecologist, works at Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College and Hospital (JLNMCH) in Bhagalpur.