Tag: health outreach

Stepping-up Health Tech

IIT KGP and ICMR Collaboration for Mega Boost to Medical Technology Industry and Healthcare Ecosystem of India

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IIT Kharagpur is going to set up a Centre of Excellence on Medical Device and Diagnostics to foster innovation of affordable and indigenous medical devices and diagnostics in priority areas and promote entrepreneurship. The proposal has recently been accepted for funding of ₹20 crore by Indian Council of Medical Research. 

In January 2020, ICMR had given a call for setting up a Centre of Excellence based on which IIT Kharagpur had proposed for the set up with thrust areas encompassing artificial intelligence in healthcare, medical devices for screening and diagnostics in healthcare, medical implants, biosensors in healthcare etc. 

“We thank ICMR, the apex body of Government of India spearheading biomedical research, for entrusting us with this responsibility. We look forward to working closely with ICMR and making meaningful contributions through these efforts. We had a rewarding experience in engaging with ICMR through a pilot ICMR – IIT Kharagpur MedTech internship program that drew great interest among engineering and medical students,” said Prof. V K Tewari, Director, IIT Kharagpur. 

India’s population size makes her healthcare challenges particularly the needs of the marginalized population in remote areas, unique, which require indigenous solutions. Accessibility and affordability have to be two key pillars of India’s medical technology development efforts. The coming together of ICMR and IIT Kharagpur is expected to give a big boost to already initiated R & D efforts at IIT Kharagpur that aim to lessen the burden of present pandemic. Further in the long run, this association will help the Institute achieve the goals set for the upcoming  Dr. B C Roy Institute of Medical Science & Research, a R & D driven super-speciality hospital followed by the first of its kind medical college in the IIT system. 

“Recently we heard that people residing in nearby areas of West Bengal and neighboring states of Jharkhand and Odisha are feeling hopeful that the burden of accessing healthcare facilities on patients and their families would be reduced with the upcoming superspecialty hospital of IIT Kharagpur. This can be taken further by catering to the need of a patient to visit a hospital through technology enabled healthcare at home and local level. The ICMR-IIT KGP Centre of Excellence will carry this responsibility forward with the much needed boost by bringing medical and technology domains together” said Director Tewari.

The centre will target to develop marketable technologies in a mission oriented time frame and use this experience to achieve longer-term goals to address challenging problems in the field of medical devices and diagnostics. Also, new intellectual property generation and a clearly defined licensing path will be the priority of the centre. Further the centre will try to extend medical technology related support to other organizations including different centres of ICMR.

For Project Information: Prof. Goutam Saha, gsaha@ece.iitkgp.ac.in

Follow IIT Kharagpur on Social Media: Facebook:@IIT.Kgp|Twitter: @IITKgp|Instagram: @iit.kgp

Protecting the Protectors

Making Face Shields for Healthcare Workers During Lockdown

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Professor Santanu Dhara and Professor Sangeeta Das Bhattacharya, researchers at the School of Medical Science and Technology at IIT Kharagpur have made a prototype to make face shields for healthcare workers from home during the lockdown. The face shield is an essential part of the personal protective equipment (PPE) required for healthcare workers taking care of patients with suspected COVID-19.

The basic PPE for healthcare workers include respirator or face masks, eye protection including goggles and face shields, gloves and gowns. The face shield is a transparent plastic protective cover, attached to an elastic head gear. It  protects the face from splashes. There is a shortage of all PPE for healthcare workers globally.

Professor Santanu Dhara and Professor Sangeeta Das Bhattacharya have designed a face shield using materials which can be procured even under the nation-wide lockdown. The items include transparency sheet, sponge, folded paper, cardboard or packaging box, elastic, or rubber band, and double-sided tape. A team from the School of Medical Science and Technology  produced 14 such face shields in 2 hours and are in the process of making more, while remotely working from their homes.

“At a time when the demand for protective wears has escalated sharply, we have to improvise products using easily sourced materials and simple process to offer some sort of protection for the health workers,” remarked Prof. Santanu Dhara.

Download DIY Video

“It is essential to get personal protective equipment for healthcare workers and the faceshield is just one part. We are contributing in a small way, these have not been rigorously tested,” said Prof. Sangeeta Das Bhattacharya. 

Face shields like other medical equipment require testing and certification. These are desperate times. There is a dire shortage of PPE globally and health care workers have taken to crowdsourcing. The hashtag #GetMePPE is trending across social media.  

Download DIY Video

 

Disclaimer: This release is made in the public interest.  Items described herein are only prototypes and caution is warranted during the DIY procedure. Every medical product and equipment requires testing and certification by appropriate authorities before use. 

COVID Preventive Care @IITKgp

Stakeholders at IIT KGP promote hygiene and preventive care amidst COVID-19 scare

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A team of researchers from IIT Kharagpur’s School of Medical Science and Technology has successfully developed an alcohol based hand rub following the present scenario of scarcity of hand sanitizers/ hand wash preparations in the market due to their heavy demand. The team created the formulation based on guidelines recommended by the World Health Organization.

The hand rub essentially consists of isopropyl alcohol, hydrogen peroxide, glycerol and water. This formulation is based on WHO guidelines of local in house production that is effective against bacteria and viruses. 

The team consisted mostly of research scholars Atul Kumar Ojha, Ayan Gope, Anurup Mukhopadhyay, Lopamudra Das, Akashlina Basu, a few of whom are from pharmaceutical technology background.

The Transport Section of the Institute led by Prof. Mihir Sarangi from the Dept. of Mechanical Engineering has also developed another formulation based on 70% Isopropyl or Rubbing alcohol, or Ethanol + 30% Aloe vera gel + 10 drops of Essential oil.

Both groups are making their sanitizer available to the select segments of the staff to help them adhere to hygiene protocols as advised by WHO while they continue providing essential services to the students and campus community.

“The formulation has been prepared only on non-commercial basis and undertaking for its use has been taken from different labs,” confirmed researcher Atul Kumar Ojha. 

The Institute has also ordered for masks designed by the healthcare authorities of the campus and made locally as has been confirmed by Director Prof. V K Tewari.

Further to this, to limit social connection at official premises, The Institute on March 22, 2020 following a communication received from the Secretary, Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India, permitted working from home or hostel to Faculty members / Researchers including those working in projects / other Scholars & Fellows who are carrying out research / Non-Teaching staff (except employees attached to emergency services) till 31st March 2020 or until further order.

The academic staff and research scholars are being encouraged to develop on-line content, on-line teaching and on-line evaluation, prepare lesson plan and develop instructional material for the courses to be offered during next academic year / next semester, carry on research and project related works, write articles, papers, prepare innovative questions for question banks and even strategize innovative projects on ‘Ek Bharat Shrestha Bharat’ program and other topics.

Combating COVID

IIT Kharagpur’s Combat against COVID19

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As the world is battling CoronaVirus, universities suspending their academic and select other activities, in one corner of Eastern India, the world renowned institute is giving fillip to the combat against COVID-19. The oldest and largest IIT and its stakeholders on the campus are contributing through a wide range of initiatives to continue helping students with their course work, increase public awareness about CoronaVirus pandemic and create resources to boost health and hygiene. Whether they be at the laboratories creating much needed solutions or socially distanced students seeking meaningful engagement or faculty and staff exploring alternate mode of teaching and learning, IIT Kharagpur is exhibiting its unique creative energy and cautious optimism at this crucial time demanding our endurance and responsible behaviour.

Health Outreach Projects

Recently Vision Prabaho, a twenty-member student group from IIT Kharagpur, found special mention in the social media post by Shri Sanjay Dhotre, Minister of State for Human Resource Development, Communications and Electronics and Information Technology. The group had translated the precautionary advisory issued by the World Health Organization (WHO) in eleven Indian languages.

Biswaroop Mondal, one of the students from the group said, “An astounding billion plus people are conversing in regional languages. We thought it would be imperative to help increase the reach through messages in vernacular languages. We have translated the advisory issued by WHO in Assamese, Bengali, Odiya, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, Marathi, Gujarati, Punjabi, Kashmiri and Hindi. We are trying to incorporate more editions of the video in other regional languages.”

In another initiative, four researchers are carrying out a study titled  ‘Travel During COVID-19 Outbreak: Behaviour, Impact, and Interventions’ to increase public awareness and perceptions about travel and social distancing. They are collecting public inputs to understand diverse insights and create a sense of preparedness. The researchers include Dr. Saurabh Dandapat, Dr. Kinjal Bhattacharyya, Annam Sai Kiran and Kaustubh Saysardar.

Hygiene Facilitation

Further to this, a research group is also working towards developing a hand sanitizing solution independently following WHO guidelines. The Transport section of the Institute has also prepared a hand sanitizer for internal use and hygiene. Read More

“The campus hospital is also exploring the procurement of washable masks designed and manufactured locally to ensure safety during unavoidable social and limited professional interactions. The administrators have been practicing social distancing themselves and encouraging the practice among the staff and students,” said Director Prof. Virendra Kumar Tewari. 

Alternative Academics

It may be mentioned in this regard that restricted travel and social distancing have been repeatedly advised by healthcare practitioners and has been a key component in the address by the Prime Minister on March 19. But the social distancing goes beyond health and hygiene.

“While academic activities remain suspended until March 31, students are being facilitated through existing and newly acquired e-learning platforms,” added Prof. Tewari.

The Institute already offers a wide range of course lectures on digital platforms such as MOOCs, Swayam, and DTH platform Swayam Prabha. Students can access these with a high-speed internet connection from anywhere in the world.

“Since the pronouncement of the suspension of classes, the Center for Education Technology has acquired a large number of WebEx licenses from CISCO for conducting classes from 2nd-year undergraduate courses upto postgraduate level. First-year classes are being conducted through YouTube Live. More than 40 faculty members are already taking classes using these e-learning facilities. We are further discussing with Zoom to facilitate interactive online teaching,” said Shib Sankar Das from the Centre. 

Prof. Jeevanjyoti Chakraborty who recently conducted a lecture on Mechanics reported more than 1500 viewers for his lecture on YouTube of which 450 were live viewers.

Talking about his experience Prof. Chakraborty said, “the teaching community is new to managing technicalities while recording lectures. The e-learning which we have been using until now was done at studios and there is technical staff to work through the logistics. The Institute’s stepping up the YouTube Live facility has enabled the faculty to concentrate on the teaching part instead of being concerned with the technical aspects of recording and streaming.”

He also mulled over the flipped classroom and active learning strategies wherein students can listen to recording course lectures prior to the scheduled online class and interact more regarding their queries on the topic.

Virtual Campus Outreach

In a novel initiative to give the mind rest from the flow of news and discussions regarding COVID19, the students of IIT Kharagpur and those studying in schools on the campus are being encouraged to engage creatively especially the occasion of Earth Day which is scheduled on April 22. The Govt. of India has been actively promoting it for the past few years. The Branding and Communications Cell under the aegis of the Dean International Relations, IIT Kharagpur has launched an online competition and exhibition (Drawing/Painting, Poster, Photo Story and Video) in electronic mode, extensively using social media platforms to celebrate the Golden Jubilee of Earth Day. While the themes would primarily include Climate Change, Sustainable Use of Natural Resources, Pollution, Biodiversity, it would also include themes such as Disaster Management, Hygiene & Cleanliness. (Click Here to Know More)

“The Institute is gearing up for a digitized celebration of Earth Day which is scheduled on April 22 with the optimism of a better tomorrow,” remarked Director Tewari. 

“We are among the first in India to strategize an online celebration of Earth Day which is otherwise marked with large public gatherings, environmental events and activism,” stated a staff member. 

Gearing Up for March 22

The Institute is also gearing up for the moment of gratitude and solidarity with those sections of the community who have been serving the campus diligently during the COVID pandemic.

Following the message of PM Narendra Modi, Director Tewari confirmed that the community will take part in the solidarity clap with the staff engaged in essential services such as healthcare, security, hostel mess, sanitation, electricity etc. along with the defenders of the nation on these fronts.