BENGALURU: Frontline healthcare workers and doctors have emerged as the new-age superheroes as efforts to flatten the curve of COVID-19 spread proceed with full gusto. In a bid to make them safer as they work in an infection-prone environment, city-based Stumpp Schuele & Somappa Springs has taken to making face shields.
Managing director Satish Machani says, “There is a lot of talk about the requirement for ventilators, facemasks, sanitisers, PPE suits, etc, but we noticed that face shields were missing. If you look at images of workers in the United States, you will notice that they always use a shield along with their hazmat suit.”
The resulting face shields, he explains, are not complex at all. “It’s typical Indian jugaad,” he says. A simple edge band acts like the headgear that goes around one’s forehead, onto which a OHP transparent sheet remains mounted to add an extra layer of protection. In order to subsidise the cost as much as possible, the shields are being retailed at just the cost of raw materials, which comes up to Rs 60 (+GST) for government hospitals and Rs 65 (+GST) for private players.
City-based Cambridge Hospital was one of the most recent buyers of these shields. According to Gourab Lakhumna, who handles the hospitals operations and administration, 50 such shields were purchased and will soon be handed out to all doctors and nurses interacting with patients. “We wanted to give our staff an additional protective barrier. So the shield acts as the first layer and then the face mask becomes the second,” he explains.
Currently, Machani has been receiving calls from hospitals in Jaipur, Mumbai, Delhi, Bhubaneswar and other parts of India. While the demand for these shields may exist, other challenges are yet to be overcome. “I don’t have the required transport or freight to be able to supply this to some other parts of the country,” he explains, adding that while couriers to Mumbai and Delhi were possible, it along took up 80 per cent of the production cost.
Work behind designing the face shield began two days before the lockdown was imposed and today, the manufacturing firm is able to manufacture 3,000 pieces a day. “We are slowly working towards reaching 4,000 shields a day,” says Machani, adding that the team comprises a mix of white and blue-collar workers, with 40 members, including managerial and production staff, reporting to work.
“Each person undergoes a temperature check before entering the building. We wear masks and gloves, and have a bottle of sanitiser each. Social distancing is also maintained while trying to maintain the assembly line,” he adds.