The designated COVID-19 Hospital (District Hospital, Mysore) on KRS Road has set up low-cost walk-in kiosks at its premises for safe collection of swabs of symptomatic people by the medical staff without direct exposure and contact with patients.

The man behind these walk-in kiosks, known as Swab Testing Cubicles is Ramesh Kikkeri, a resident of Bogadi in city. A post-Graduate in healthcare management and environment management, Ramesh Kikkeri is serving as the Disaster Management Advisor since many years.

Following COVID-19 pandemic, he has voluntarily joined hands with the District Administration and is also serving in the COVID Care Committee.

A team led by Ramesh has installed three Swab Testing Cubicles at the COVID-19 Hospital and has also readied two more STCs which are waiting to be transported to the Mandya District Hospital. Also, Ramesh and team have also installed disinfectant tunnels, which are being used at various places in city.

Shaped like an old telephone booth that is closed from four sides, one side of the Swab Testing Cubicle is made of glass with two openings where detachable and disposable rubber gloves are fixed. The gloves are fixed for the medical staff to insert hands and collect swab samples from symptomatic patients. Also, the medical staff can collect swabs from inside the Swab Testing Cubicles without wearing Personal Protective Equipment (PPE).

While one Swab Testing Cubicles at the COVID Hospital is made using steel frames, the other two is made with aluminium. The cost of each Swab Testing Cubicle is Rs. 20,000 and as they are light in weight, it could be carried from one place to another.

Disinfectant Tunnels

To destroy the virus, Sodium Hypochlorite solution is sprayed in the disinfectant tunnels, which have been installed at various places in city and Ramesh has played a major role in readying these disinfectant tunnels and installing them.

While two disinfectant tunnels are installed in K.R. Hospital premises, temporary vegetable markets on M.G. Road and at Alanahalli has one tunnel each, one tunnel each in Central Prisons, Devaraja Market, RMC Market, APMC Yard in Nanjangud and Star of Mysore Office, three tunnels each in Mysuru APMC Yard and L&T company. Ramesh has also given suggestions in the making of Sanitiser Bus by the KSRTC.

Also, the team led by Ramesh has installed the tunnels (one each) at the RMC Market on Sayyaji Rao Road, Central Prison, near Devaraja Market on Dhanvantri Road and at the Nanjangud APMC Yard.  While the cost of most of these disinfectant tunnels has been taken care of by the district administration, some have been sponsored by a few organisations and corporate companies.

No harm in sodium hypochlorite disinfection

“There are rumours doing rounds that spraying sodium hypochlorite solution is harmful. This is false. A few mischief-mongers are spreading such fake messages. As per the recommendation of World Health Organisation (WHO), one kilogram of Sodium Hypochlorite is mixed with 100 litres of water to make a solution, which is being sprayed in the disinfectant tunnels,” Ramesh said.

“Public need not panic while using the disinfectant tunnels. There may be itching sensation for a few persons which is not dangerous. At present, no other chemical apart from sodium hypochlorite has been considered as anti-viral. Until a suitable chemical is made available, Sodium Hypochlorite has to be used,” he added.

Ramesh said that they have so far installed 15 disinfectant tunnels and added that there are demands from private companies to install the tunnels in their premises. He said that each tunnel would cost within Rs. 40,000.

Ramesh Kikkeri can be contacted on Mob:  96205-43516.

source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> Feature Articles / April 19th, 2020

Deepak and Vic Parmar of  ‘Oxyour’ have developed the prototype of a Powered Air Purifying Respirator.

Bengaluru :

Doctors, nurses and other paramedical staff who are at high risk of contracting the COVID-19 when treating critically ill patients can don an almost foolproof safety kit at work by using a super-smart respirator, urges an IT professional, who has developed the product in his home along with a neighbour.

The sophisticated equipment provides 99.97 per cent filtration, way above any of the surgical masks presently in vogue, making it impossible for the virus to enter.

Deepak and Vic Parmar of  ‘Oxyour’ have developed the prototype of a Powered Air Purifying Respirator (PAPR) within a month’s time after reading reports about the virus causing deaths of health professionals in Italy and Spain.

Parmar, who is passionate about electronics, owns a 3D printer, which helped them bring their design to shape easily.

Deepak told the New Indian Expres, “Respirators are popular in the US and the government has banned its export. It is relatively unknown here. With the guidance of our contacts aborad which include pulmonlogists, doctors and even industrial designers, we have been working through the nights to bring it to shape “.

While a respirator in the US costs upto 2000 dollar, it has been developed by the duo for less than Rs 50,000 , he said.

“We want someone to take it up and develop it on a mass scale so that it can reach the health service workers at the earliest. Those with expertise in mass production would do it at a much-reduced cost,” the start-up founder said.

Giving technical details, he said the respirator consists of a visor that has a tube at the back which connects it to a belt.

“Attached to the belt is a bacterial and viral H13 filter. Continuous fresh air is pumped by a mini machine through the tube to the hood and this pushes away potentially germ-filled air away from the nose and mouth of the wearer,” Deepak explains.

The equipment can be disinfected using UV light and used upto three times, he added.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Bengaluru / by S Lalitha / Express News Service / April 22nd, 2020

The first batch of ten each were despatched on Saturday by post to the Rishikesh-based institute. It was a pure labour of love for the team at BEL headed by scientist Matukumalli Rajasekhar.

Bengaluru :

The Bengaluru-based PSU Bharat Electronics Limited has been roped in by the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Uttarakhand to develop wrist and chest bands to monitor those with COVID-19 or suspected of having it.

The first batch of ten each were despatched on Saturday by post to the Rishikesh-based institute. It was a pure labour of love for the team at BEL headed by scientist Matukumalli Rajasekhar of its Central Research Lab who churned out the products within a week’s time.

Rajashekhar told TNIE, “The concept was proposed by AIIMS to BEL. The software, sensors and cloud system to store them were all developed by us here. We have also developed a mobile app. A total of 40 of us were split into three teams.”

Both the bands have to be worn together by a patient, one around the wrist and the other around the hip like a belt. “It is GPS enabled and connected to a common server. The wrist band will send the temperature and other details to the server. All patient movements will be tracked through it. The chest belt will show the respiratory status of the patient. Alerts are sent to the Chief Medical Officer in each district. The CMO will alert the health workers in the area who can track the patient.”

In case any of the bands is thrown away by a patient, alerts will be sent indicating that they are not being used, he added. “Such bands are not in use anywhere in the country and it is the first such initiative,” the scientist said, adding, “AIIMS wanted to test the first batch to ensure all readings are fine. We will be doing it in bulk as soon as we get the green signal from them.”

AIIMS is likely to ask BEL to produce 25,000 pairs of bands, he added. Asked about the business part of it, the scientist said, “We are not looking at it as a profit venture. The cost incurred in readying the apparatus for each patient works out to around Rs 10,000 and the institute is likely to pay that to us. We are not charging them as it is our contribution during this crisis-ridden time.”

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> States> Karnataka / by S. Lalitha / Express News Service / April 18th, 2020