Chandigarh: COVID wards and Intensive Care Units at several hospitals in Chandigarh, Punjab, Uttarakhand, and Himachal Pradesh can help address concerns to the health of citizens and healthcare workers arising on account of the COVID-19 pandemic with the help of air purifiers from a US-based company through an effort by Panjab University, that will improve their ventilation facilities. This facility is already extended to about 10 hospitals in six states so far and will soon be extended further to most of the COVID affected states in the country.
“To help aid in the battle against the virus and provide patients, doctors, and staff with much-needed clean air,” the Ministry of Science and Technology, stated while disclosing about this project today.
Installation of these air purifiers are expected to help prevent transmission of COVID-19 through exposure to aerosolized respiratory droplets by facilitating adequate indoor air purification and ventilation in the hospitals. These air purifiers will be provided by the Department of Science and Technology supported Sophisticated Analytical Instrumentation Facility, Panjab University Chandigarh (SAIF, PUC) in collaboration with Molekule, a USA based air purifying manufacturer.
The partnership has led to donation of air purifiers Molekule and Air Pro RX units to hospitals across the country. The facility at the university will assemble and optimise Molekule’s air purifiers.
Molekule’s core technology, Photo-electrochemical oxidation (PECO), is designed to destroy airborne pollutants like viruses, bacteria, mold, or chemicals in the air known as Volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Tests on PECO for these Molekule Air purifiers indicate upto 99.99% inactivation of coronavirus strains (porcine & bovine) and H1N1 flu virus, upto 95% destruction of VOCs and ozone (airborne chemicals), and upto 99.9% destruction of bacteria, mold, and viruses in the air.
In the first batch, Molekule Air Purifier Mini and Molekule Air Pro RX units were received, assembled, and tested at SAIF, PUC, by its technical staff members. Molekule Air Pro RX units had been originally designed for medical purposes in the United States and optimized for air purification in multipurpose facilities in hospitals to cater for huge areas such as emergency wards, ICUs, and so on and can now play a significant role in containing the rapid spread of COVID 19 in India.
“There have been numerous compelling stories of repurposing of DST supported scientific infrastructure and knowledge centres, such as the SAIF at Panjab University, in effective addressing of COVID-19 demands with speed and scale. An important lesson is that the scientific and technological infrastructure, human and knowledge resources can become deep assets to fight any clear and present crisis requiring speedy actions,” said Professor Ashutosh Sharma, Secretary, DST.
– global bihari bureau
