The national effort to ramp up production of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) to fight the coronavirus pandemic has got a boost. The Navy has successfully filed a patent for its indigenously-designed PPE. The low-cost PPE will shortly go in for mass manufacturing and the Navy is looking for local producers.
Giving details of the latest development on the PPE, Navy officials said here on Thursday the patent was filed by the Intellectual Property Facilitation Cell(IPFC) of Ministry of Defence, in association with National Research Development Corporation(NRDC), an enterprise under the Ministry of Science and Technology. This process brings it a step closer to mass production, they said.
The low-cost PPE has been developed by a Doctor of Indian Navy, posted at the recently created Innovation Cell at Institute of Naval Medicine (INM), Mumbai. A pilot batch of PPEs has already been produced at Naval Dockyard Mumbai, a statement by the Navy said. Efforts are now on to commence mass production of this low-cost PPE and eligible firms are being identified for taking up licensed production, officials said.
The PPE developed by the Navy is made of a special fabric which affords high level of protection along with high ‘breathability’ as against other PPEs available in the market and is, therefore, more suitable for use in hot and humid weather conditions as prevalent in India. The technology has also been tested and validated by the Indian Council of Medical Research approved testing laboratory.
Concerted efforts are now ongoing by a core team of Navy, IPFC and NRDC to commence mass production of this low-cost PPE. The patent filing process came days after the PPE cleared mandatory certification by the Institute of Nuclear Medicine and Allied Sciences. It is part of the Defence Research and Development (DRDO)and is tasked with the testing and certification of PPE.
The Navy product was 'certified to be mass produced and used in clinical COVID situations', officials said.