Press Information Bureau

 Kolkata, April 14, 2020

 

 

 

Recently, a number of states including the government of West Bengal have made the wearing of facemask mandatory in public places to contain spread of COVID-19. However, in absence of proper awareness, the careless use of facemask itself can be proved as an agent of disaster in the society. Thus, it is imperative that the people may need to be educated for the effective use of facemask during the outbreak of COVID19. Worth to mention here that the facemask requires a sanitisation process after completion of its production. Moreover, since most of the facemasks in the developing nations are being used multiple times by the common user, it is mandatory that such masks must be properly sanitised before each use and disposed of cleanly once it gets damaged. In absence of proper sanitisation facilities at home, air-drying/ sun-drying after proper soap-wash of the mask can be an effective mechanism before re-using the same. Thus, it is utmost necessary that each person should possess multiple (at least 4) re-usable masks for effective prevention of infections.

 

CSIR-CMERI, which is a premier R&D laboratory of CSIR-India, has initiated multiple steps to address aforesaid issues of public safety related to the use of proper facemask during the present time of crisis. Facemask fabric has been selected considering its hydrophobic property and pores size which are required to prevent the penetration of the targeted microorganisms. The selected materials have been scientifically tested in the laboratory for its effectiveness. The institute has also set-up an Ultraviolet germicidal irradiation (UVGI) facility for bulk sanitization of the produced facemasks before sending the same to the end-user organizations. Considering the distributed demands, local NGOs and rural entrepreneurs are being involved by the institute for the bulk production of the facemasks to meet the raised requirements.

 

In light of recent announcement of West Bengal government, organizations like State Bank of India, Durgapur Steel Plant, Indian Oil Corporation, Bharat Petroleum, Vivekananda Hospital and other local pharmacies/ daily need stores sent their requirements of facemasks to CSIR-CMERI for supplying the scientifically-proven facemasks for the use of their respective staff members. To meet this requirement, the institute started imparting training to needy persons of local NGOs for the production of the mask of requisite specifications. The institute also opened up multiple setups for sanitisation and packaging of the masks for uninterrupted supply.

 

As the mechanization of the manufacturing process is an essential step for mass production in the most cost-effective manner, the effort has also been initiated in the Institute towards the development of low-cost machines for facemasks production. Prof. Harish Hirani, the Director of CSIR-CMERI reiterated his commitment for reduction of effective cost of a scientifically proven face-mask to a bare minimum of Rs. 5/- so as to reach the poorest of the poor segment in the society. He further stated that the Institute will extend all possible scientific/ technological services to the government/ non-governmental organisations of the country who are endeavouring towards fighting against COVID19 as Corona warriors. Targeting the local entrepreneurship, the Institute has recently floated an Expression of Interest (EoI) on its website (www.cmeri.res.in/covid19) for inviting Companies/ Businesses/ MSMEs/ NGOs to join hands in its effort to develop a cost-effective mass-production mechanism for the facemasks in the country.

 

Institute also opened up a temporary enquiry channel for the facemask at 9123190501 / ao@cmeri.res.in.

 

 

 

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