The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has risen to the challenge in joining the war on Covid-19 by adapting its equipment, developed for military use, to save lives as the second wave of the deadly pandemic sweeps across the nation. .
The defence organisation has made makeshift hospitals with negative pressure tents to help those who need specialised medical care due to Covid-19. The specifications of the hospital infrastructure on the ICU beds, oxygen beds and normal beds was worked out in consultation with the state health authorities, according to a DRDO statement.
Nine hospitals for Covid-19 have been set up by the DRDO in cities like Delhi, Ahmedabad, Lucknow, Varanasi, Gandhi Nagar, Haldwani, Rishikesh, Jammu and Srinagar. The biggest among them is the Dhanvantri Covid Care Hospital in Gandhi Nagar which has 700 oxygen beds and 200 ICU beds. In Delhi, Sardar Patel Covid Care Centre has 500 ICU beds.
The equipment for Covid-19 care is provided as per specified standards. The maintenance and upkeep of the equipment is round-the-clock at a time when the spread of Covid-19 has led to lockdown-like conditions in several states, the statement explained.
The DRDO is also assisting in the installation of oxygen generation plants at various hospitals across the country. The organisation said that these oxygen plants can generate up to 1,000 litres of oxygen per minute which can cater up to 190 patients. The plants can also charge up to 195 cylinders per day.
The research organisation said that first two oxygen plants arrived in Delhi and were operationalised at AIIMS and Ram Manohar Lohia (RML) hospitals in the city on May 6. The next three plants arriving in Delhi will be installed at Lady Hardinge Medical College, Safdarjung hospital and AIIMS in Jhajjar.
The DRDO has also taken an initiative to rope in more industry partners for ramping up the production of lower capacity medical oxygen plants for smaller hospitals.
To give further boost to oxygen production, DRDO has developed its own oxygen supply system based on SpO2 (oxygen saturation) level. The government on Wednesday approved the procurement of 1,50,000 units of the 'Oxycare' system. The DRDO has already transferred the technology to multiple industries in India for large-scale production of the system.
One of the DRDO's labs has also developed a medicine, 2-deoxy-D-glucose (2-DG)., which after proving successful in clinical trials can now be used to treat Covid-19 patients.
