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DRDO Develops New Bio Suit To Keep Medical Personnel Safe From Coronavirus
Against the backdrop of number of covid-19 infections rising sharply in India and the country scouring international markets for equipment starting from testing kits to personal protective gear, the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) on Thursday said it had developed a bio suit to keep the medical, paramedical and other personnel safe from the coronavirus.
A statement from the Indian defence ministry said scientists at various DRDO laboratories have applied their technical know-how and expertise in textile, coating and nanotechnology to develop the the Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) having specific type of fabric with coating.
“The suit has been prepared with the help of the industry and 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 Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW),” the statement said.
“The DRDO is making all efforts to ensure that these suits are produced in large numbers and serve as robust line of defence for the medics, paramedics and other personnel in the front line combating COVID-19,” the statement said.
Two private companies have been identified to partner DRDO in making the suits in large numbers, the statement said.
The production of such suits in the country by DRDO industry partners and others are being hampered due to non-availability of seam sealing tapes and to address this the DRDO has prepared a special sealant as an alternative, it said.
For first responders attending to radiological emergencies, a reusable suit has been developed by Institute of Nuclear Medicine and Allied Sciences (INMAS) Delhi, the statement added.
Separately, in another statement, the Indian navy said that the Naval Dockyard in Mumbai had designed and developed its own handheld infrared based temperature sensor for screening large number of personnel. The instrument has been manufactured under Rs. 1000/ – through in-house resources, “which is fraction of the cost of the Temperature Guns in the market,” it said.
The 285 year old Naval Dockyard (ND) of Western Naval Command (WNC) sees the influx of around 20,000 personnel on a average every day. The most preliminary method to screen a probable patient is to check for body temperature by a non-contact means, the statement added.-Livemint
