The DRDO has developed 11 such products to combat the coronavirus. These products include visor-based full-face shield, isolation shelter, mobile area sanitisation system, advanced N99 masks, personal sanitisation equipment, portable backpack area sanitisation equipment, advanced PPEs (Personal Protection Equipment) for doctors and frontline health workers, ventilators and sanitisers.
With an anticipation of a growing need for ventilators in the coming days for patients fighting the coronavirus, the DRDO’s Defence Bioengineering and Electromedical Laboratory in Bangalore, in partnership with Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) and Scanray Pvt Ltd in Mysuru, will develop modern and portable ventilators at the earliest.
And, according to sources in the DRDO, works on the development of such ventilators are progressing and each scientist and technician is working to come up with the best and most advanced form of ventilator.
Apart from this, a personal sanitisation equipment which is a full body disinfection chamber has been developed by the DRDO’s Vehicle Research and Development Establishment laboratory in Ahmednagar.
This personal sanitisation equipment, which is currently being used at the entrance of many markets across the country, is a walk-through full body disinfection chamber. It is a portable system equipped with sanitiser and soap dispenser. The decontamination is started using a foot pedal at the entry. On entering the chamber, an electrically operated pump creates a disinfectant mist of hypo sodium chloride for disinfecting. The mist spray is calibrated for an operation of 25 seconds and stops automatically, indicating completion of operation.
An official from the DRDO told The Sunday Guardian, “The person who enters the chamber will have to keep their eyes closed as per the procedure because of the disinfectant. This system consists of roof mounted and bottom tanks with a total of 700 litres capacity and approximately 650 personnel can pass through the chamber for disinfection until the refill is required. This system can be used for disinfection of personnel at the areas of controlled ingress and egress such as entry and exit to hospitals, malls, office buildings and critical installations.”
Apart from this, the DRDO’s Research Centre Imarat, Hyderabad laboratory and the Terminal Ballistics Research Laboratory in Chandigarh have developed a light weight face protection mask for frontline healthcare professionals handling Covid-19 patients.
According to the DRDO’s laboratory, the frame of the mask has been made using 3D Printing, while the face covering thermoplastic is made using biodegradable renewable resources such as corn starch or sugarcane.
The DRDO’s innovation to develop suits against CBRN (Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear) agents have also led to the development of a special bio suit for healthcare workers to fight Covid-19 using a “specific type” of fabric and a “specific type” of agent.
A DRDO official in the know of this development told this newspaper, “The suit has been prepared with the help of the industry and has been subjected to rigorous testing for textile parameters as well as protection against synthetic blood. The protection against synthetic blood exceeds the criteria defined for body suits by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. Currently, the capacity of production exists at 7,000 suits per day, but efforts are on to ramp up the production to 15,000 suits per day.”
In an effort to help the government with rapid sanitization, the DRDO has also come up with a Trolley Mounted Large Area Sanitisation Equipment which has the capability of disinfecting up to 3,000 square metre area in one go.