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Health care professionals are usually the first responders to deal with infectious patients when a pandemic breaks out. For this reason, personal protective equipment (PPE) becomes essential to protect healthcare workers from infection. With the rise of life-threatening pandemics, such as the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2), the selection of an affordable and effective PPE is critical. The selected PPE should provide protection and be comfortable to wear. Among the PPEs, the powered air-purifying respirator (PAPR) has a better protection factor compared to the commonly used N-95 mask. However, in India, the PAPRs are imported and expensive (around Indian Rupees 100,000 or US dollars 1,280), so it becomes exceedingly difficult for the majority of healthcare workers to afford them. Our university developed a low-cost PAPR model. The current study investigates the feasibility of this low-cost PAPR as potential PPE gear, with 20 female nurses as participants. In two sessions, the participants performed pre-selected routine nursing tasks in a hospital-based simulation. In one session, they wore an N-95 mask with a face shield and in the other, they wore the PAPR. In this way, a comparison was made between the N-95 mask plus face shield and the PAPR regarding the perceived comfort and suitability for the tasks. The study indicated that PAPR was perceived as providing better breathing comfort and vision compared to the N-95 mask plus face shield. However, the participants perceived the N-95 mask system to be more suitable for tasks requiring high mobility compared to the proposed PAPR system, which had low flexibility and was preferred for tasks requiring low mobility. It is therefore suggested that a PAPR should be used predominantly by doctors who do not engage in high-mobility tasks. A larger sample comprising participants of mixed gender and additional doctors could have yielded more generalizable results, which is proposed as part of a future plan.