The best of talents shines through most during a crisis. The world at present is going through one of the worst pandemics in the form of the corona virus. This crisis which has hit the world has seen even so called developed countries struggling to provide healthcare facilities and medical equipments. But Bharat has always dealt with crisis bravely and emerged on top from time to time. Bharatiyas have always been enterprising and shown their talent during crisis and it is no different this time.

Caring Indians is a project initiated by enterprising youngsters who intend to bring manufacturing, healthcare and several other professionals on a single platform to make resources available to deal with the corona crisis. This enterprising group consists of engineers, scientists, doctors, project managers, CAs and agriculturists along with volunteers. They have undertaken several projects which will help the country to deal with this deadly pandemic as efficiently as possible.

Anticipating a situation where there would be a shortage of medical equipment Anurag Dixit and Rahul Raj got together and came up with the idea of Caring Indians with the aim of bringing together a team of engineers and medical experts who would help in building machines and other essentials which would come in handy during the time of need. Other members of this team are Samarth Sharma, Ajayender Reddy, Nanjesh Patel and Manish Goyal.

To fight with the unknown crisis of Corona, we are building a team of engineers and medicos who can start working on projects for equipment and sensors. We have gathered some good people, but we need more strength. If interested DM me or @bhootnath. Here is the mission statement pic.twitter.com/8BoKYVVYSL

— Rahul Raj (@bhak_sala) March 21, 2020

The country needs several essential items to fight this pandemic besides major medical equipments such as ventilators. The objective of Caring Indians is to build products required by the healthcare system from ideation to manufacturing as quickly as possible. Besides building affordable equipments they also offer technical, financial and human assistance to those who are engaged in such projects. The objective statement also states that they intend to ‘make anything that may be useful to anyone in fighting the virus easily available and accessible’.

One of the projects undertaken by Caring Indians helped NOCCA Robotics, which makes affordable testing kits and ventilators, to secure the required permissions from officials. Other projects the group worked include invasive ventilators, disinfectants, Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) diagnostic panels, contactless thermometers, IoT devices and designs for masks.

And there are many more such stories of small and medium sized companies, and enterprising individuals rising to meet the unique challenge posed by this crisis.

A Rajkot based firm has invented a low cost ventilator which was tested at Ahmedabad Civil Hospital’s medical lab. The ventilator has not just been given approval but has also started being used for patients. This ventilator has cleared both engineering and medical requirements.

Testing kits are crucial in this fight against Covid19 and now a Pune based diagnostic firm has developed the country’s first indigenous Covid-19 testing kit. Low cost testing kits are important for a large country like Bharat with such a huge population. The kit known as Patho Detect developed within a short period of six weeks under the supervision of Mylab’s research and development chief Minal Dakhave Bhosale has solved this issue to a large extent. It was submitted to the National Institute of Virology (NIV) for evaluation on March 18^th and Mylabs Discovery Solutions has received the statutory approvals. Unlike foreign kits which take six-seven hours, this kit completes the diagnosis in just two and half hours. The company intends to ramp up its production to around 25,000 kits per day.

Not just private labs but even Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO) has stepped in during this hour of crisis. DRDO has designed a full body disinfection chamber. This personnel sanitization enclosure contains an electrically operated pump which releases a hypo sodium chloride disinfectant mist that ensures complete decontamination of personnel entering the chamber.

Another important requirement of healthcare professionals attending to patients in isolation wards and Intensive Care Units (ICUs) to fight this pandemic is Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) or coverall kits. 15 manufacturers have taken this task upon themselves which includes Arvind Mills, JCT Mills Phagwara, Amare Safety, Mumbai’s Sure Safety, Delhi’s Sai Synergy, Manchanda, Chennai’s Shree Healthcare and several others. Bharatiya kits would cost less than Rs 3000 as against imported kits which cost close to Rs. 5000.

N95 masks are crucial for healthcare professionals who are working round the clock in fighting this pandemic. Although centre and state governments have placed orders for these masks, manufacturers would take some time to produce these masks en-masse and therefore it would take time to cover the present shortage. At such a crucial juncture a Bengaluru factory has come up with a technique to make these masks last longer. The factory is manufacturing face shields which will enable healthcare professionals to use the N95 masks for longer periods of time.

As per a press release issued by Ministry of Health and Family Welfare A domestic manufacturers Agva Healthcare in Noida has been able to develop suitable ventilators and an order of 10,000 ventilators has been placed on him. Supplies are expected to commence by the 2nd week of April. In addition, an order for 30,000 ventilators has been placed on Bharat Electronics Limited which is going to collaborate with domestic manufacturers in this endeavour. Indian Auto manufacturers are also preparing to manufacture ventilators.

Even Bharat’s corporates have stepped in to help the country deal with this crisis. Mahindra and Mahindra (M&M) has developed an indigenous ventilator that costs just about Rs 7500. M&M has come up with prototype of artificial manual-breathing unit or ambu bag within 48 hours. This is a self-inflating device which will help patients with breathing problems. The company has come together with two state owned companies and a ventilator manufacturer so that the design of the ventilator can be simplified and to ensure increased production of ventilators.

Bharat has been known for its enterprise since times immemorial. With innovators stepping in to help the government during these difficult times, the country is sure to tide over this crisis. Most importantly it indicates that youngsters of Bharat are forever ready to show their enterprise and creativity when required and come out with flying colours even in the most difficult of tests.

(Featured Image Source: BBC)

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