Pune: “We have been hearing of several cases of doctors and nurses getting infected with COVID-19 virus, and wanted to help those who are saving lives in this pandemic,” said final year architecture student Shreyans Chordia.
Chordia along with his friend Pravesh Mehta who has completed a diploma in Pharmacy have manufactured and donated aerosol boxes, which they call ‘Box of Hope’ to hospitals. These boxes are meant to act as barriers between doctors and COVID-19 patients during treatment.
Such boxes have been donated to six hospitals in Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad. The duo is presently in the process of getting feedback from the doctors. The original concept of such boxes originated in the Philippines.
“We experimented with different materials. We manufactured the boxes first with Acrylic, and then with Polycarbonate. We plan to continue with the latter as the material is unbreakable and has better durability,” Chordia said.
While Chordia is more into manufacturing, Mehta mostly has been doing the work of meeting and communicating with doctors and hospitals and getting their feedback. The boxes have been donated to Naidu Hospital, Ruby Hall Clinic, District Hospital, Aundh, Deenanath Mangeshkar Hospital, Sahyadri Hospital, Deccan and Yashwantrao Chavan Memorial Hospital, Chinchwad.
“Doctors are happy. However, they have pointed out a few technical errors that we will be working on. While our boxes are 20x20 inches in dimensions, we have been suggested to increase the breadth to 30 inches. The boxes could be used during the processes of incubation, swabbing, anaesthetics, etc., for which the doctors have recommended a hole for the incubation tube,” Chordia said.
Presently, the manufacturing has been funded by the National Innovation Foundation (NIF) in Gujurat.
“After we have made technical changes in the design, we will try to get orders from hospitals, which we will be able to deliver in a couple of days from our manufacturing centre in Chinchwad. We are also trying to get in touch with the Military hospitals in Pune,” Chordia added.