IIT Kharagpur to fund healthcare technology development for COVID-19

The Institute submitted a list of projects to the IIT Council in mid-April of which eight projects have been selected.

Talking about the initiative, Director Prof. Virendra Kumar Tewari  said, “It is our responsibility to improve the quality of life of the last person in the society. While we built some quick technologies to cater to the immediate needs of the essential service providers at the campus, we were simultaneously preparing project proposals and evaluating them keeping in mind the immediate need of the country, cost and product delivery period.”

According to a press release by the Institute, the researchers will be working on several technologies including design and development of rapid diagnostic kit, real-time PCR machine, body suit for COVID-19 patients, personal protective equipment for healthcare workers and portable shredder integrated with sterilizer, Hazmat Suit with forced purified and cooled air circulation for medical professionals, bootstrapping ambu-bag as automated ventilator, telemedicine for fighting viral pandemic, large scale production of recombinant proteins for vaccine and testing.

An amount of Rs. 50 Lakh has been allotted for phase I of 8 projects towards development of prototypes, the Institute said.

For several of these projects, the prototypes are expected to be ready within a duration of 3 - 4 weeks while a couple of them will take 6 months to deliver the results, according to the release.

The phase I is expected to start immediately after the lockdown is relaxed and the research staff are able to attend the laboratories.

Meanwhile software related work will progress as usual, the Institute said.

“IIT Kharagpur has a proven track record towards development of indigenous health and hygiene technologies which are affordable, high-quality at par with globally accepted standards, and commercially viable. Our researchers are committed to deliver the prototypes within a constrained timeline considering the healthcare needs in the current situation,” said Prof. Tewari.

Dr Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank, Union Minister of Human Resource Development, acknowledged the initiative by the Institute on his social media handle, congratulating Director Prof. Virendra Kumar Tewari and his team of researchers.