After Body Suits, Hand and Body Sanitisers, N-99 Masks, DRDO gears up to produce Ventilators useful for 4-8 patients

The Defence Research and Development Organisation or the DRDO is an agency of the Government of India under the Ministry of Defense. It is the military research and development centre that offers cutting edge military technology. During this Coronavirus Pandemic, it has done the same and raged a "War Against Corona".

Earlier in March 2020, the organisation developed three medical equipment and it has now launched the fourth one. The Defence Bio-Engineering & Electro Medical Laboratory (DEBEL), Bengaluru is a DRDO lab. The lab had identified a vendor (Scanray Tech Pvt Ltd, Mysore) to produce ventilators. “Innovation is on to create ‘Multi patient-ventilator’ wherein several patients can be supported by a single ventilator. This innovation is expected to be available within a week,” the DRDO said.

The DRDO Ventilators

The Government of India, on its twitter handle, released a video of a panel of scientists stating the development of the Ventilator technology. It is a cutting edge tech that the organisation expects to build as a robust product. When it issued an earlier statement, DRDO said that the ventilator will cost around INR 4 lacs. In the last four-five days, they have been able to test the ventilators in Apollo Hospital and certain ESI Hospitals.

देखिए कोरोनावायरस की चुनौती से निपटने में @DRDO_India कैसे दे रहा है अहम योगदान। डीआरडीओ के एक वेंटिलर से 4 से 8 मरीजों का हो सकेगा इलाज। #IndiaFightsCorona @PIB_India pic.twitter.com/ciPwt9AXWN

— MyGovIndia (@mygovindia) April 1, 2020

COVID-19 affects the respiratory system. Therefore, this technology is a great relief for doctors and nurses all over India. The organisation also stated to release around 5,000 ventilators in the first month and 10,000 subsequently. Bharat Electronics Limited will be the primary vendor.

The Body Suits

DRDO released a statement saying that the bodysuit can shield doctors, medical staff, sanitation workers and others.  DRDO initially developed the bodysuit for medical and paramedical staff to manage and evacuate the causalities in the event of radiological emergencies. Due to the evolving pandemic, this suit was later converted to a bodysuit to stop contamination. The suit is washable and has passed the ASTM International standards.

Frontier Protective Wear Pvt Ltd, Kolkata and Medikit Pvt Ltd, Mumbai are producing 10,000 suits per day. These suits cost around INR 7000. These suits will be useful for the frontline fighters against Coronavirus.

The N-99 Masks

The N-99 mask is a five-layer pollution protection mask. As an upgrade, the DRDO has used two layers of nanomesh to make them for medical purpose. The N-99 masks cost INR 75 per piece.

Venus Industries and IMTEC, in Mumbai and Kolkata respectively, are the vendors for this mask. Ahmedabad Textile Industry’s Research Association supplies the cloth for the masks. The latter has a lot of order from the government for N-95 masks.

DRDO has also stated that it will produce 3D masks for police and health workers. The organisation has already produced a large number of surgical masks. It will further mass produce as and when needed.

The Hand Sanitisers

Defence Research & Development Establishment (DRDE), Gwalior is a lab of the DRDO. They initially produced around 20,000 ltrs of alcohol-based sanitiser. Later, the DRDO found a vendor, Gwalior Alco Brew Pvt Ltd. The vendor has a production capacity of 20-30 thousand litres every day. The sanitiser will cost Rs 20 per litre.

The hand sanitiser is the basic weapon against COVID-19. Hence, DRDO has supplied over 9000 ltrs to the following:

- The Indian Armed Forces

- The Armed Forces Medical Corps

- The Defence Security Corps

- The Ministry of Defense

- The Parliament and various high-level offices.

Future Ahead

The DRDO aims to build isolation tents, oxygen-based isolation tubes, sanitisation tanks and sanitizing vans. Dr Sateesh Reddy, Chairman of DRDO stated that they will soon produce Sanitizing Vans in considerable numbers. They will be supplied to major cities and towns for sanitizing people who enter the van. Similarly, he said that DRDO is working on technology relating to isolation tubes.