NIPER-Guwahati Designs Innovative 3D Products To Fight COVID-19
Manufacturing Would be Done In Collaboration With HAL
Guwahati. Scientists, Government, Universities and other organisations from all over the world are coming up with various products to fight COVID-19. Keeping up with the same, National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research – Guwahati (NIPER-G) has also designed two innovative products that would prove helpful in the fight against the pandemic outbreak of COVID-19 (coronavirus). Doors, windows, switch buttons, elevator buttons, drawer handles, refrigerator handle, and laptop/desktop keyboards are some of the most germ-infested objects in houses, hospitals, factories, companies, institutes, organizations, and other buildings. In this current situation of pandemic outbreak of COVID-19, touching public surfaces might play a key role in transmitting infection from one person to another through bare hand contacts or contaminated surface source.
Product 1 : Although people are trying very hard to avoid touching the surfaces such as doors, windows, elevator buttons, etc. but sometimes the avoiding becomes really very difficult. NIPER-G has designed 3D-printed hands-free object that could be used in opening or closing doors, windows, drawers (of all kinds), refrigerator handle, pressing elevator buttons, and laptop/desktop keyboards. This would also help in turning the switch buttons on/off. The researchers have come up with the design for the fabrication of the 3D-printed object after detailed analyses of several resources for risk measurement, its management and on how viruses spread through bare hands. It is low cost, easy to wear, has good chemical stability, non-fragile and is easy to clean with the existing sanitizers or any alcoholic disinfectant.
Product 2 : The 2nd product designed in lieu of COVID-19 is a 3D-printed antimicrobial face-shield to control the spread of novel coronavirus. The face shield is easy to design and it is also possible to have rapid development of prototypes. It was designed after a thorough study of understanding how viruses spread through oral, ophthalmic, olfactory and other body cavities.
A meeting was held through video conferencing yesterday, on 14th May 2020, under the chairmanship of Dr. P D Vaghela, Secretary, Pharmaceuticals, New Delhi to review NIPERs performance in research & innovation activities, especially with regard to the ways in which NIPERs have and can contribute in country’s fight against COVID-19 pandemic.
All the directors and chairman took part in the mentioned meeting. Dr. U.S.N Murty, Director, NIPER-Guwahati, informed that NIPER-G endeavored to help the country in fighting coronavirus through quick validated prototype/product development and deployment. He stated, ‘NIPER-G is committed to provide useful contributions cum solutions.’ He further said that NIPER-G has also made a skin friendly herbal sanitizer. Industrial scale manufacturing of NIPER-G’s new products are being done in collaboration with Hindustan Antibiotics Limited (HAL), a departmental PSU.
NIPERs are Centres of Excellence Institutes under the Department of Pharmaceutical, Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers. The seven institutes are functional at Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Hajipur, Kolkata, Guwahati, Mohali and Raebareli.
