COVID Response

AnantU mobile covid-19 testing and oxygen auto-rickshaw

Fast and reliable testing
Transporting patients safely to hospitals

Testing was a huge bottleneck but there is evidence that the presence of congestion in lungs indicates a very high probability of COVID. This can be easily ascertained by an x-ray but it is difficult to get people living in slums, rural areas and inner cities to x-ray centres. The Center with its partners developed a low cost, mobile digital x-ray testing vehicle on a commercial auto-rickshaw chassis. These vehicles had automatic disinfection systems and the patient was isolated from the technician. There was also a provision to conduct swab tests. The results were sent directly to the base hospital from where further steps were decided. The vehicles were deployed with the BMC.

Oxygen Response Vehicle - Rajkot

Mobile Covid-19 testing facility in Mumbai

Emergency mobile oxygen response facility

AnantU covid-19 Recovery Centres

The centre made recommendations to the Prime Ministers Office of using vacant hard infrastructure – empty community halls, affordable housing projects etc to create temporary COVID care centres. This proposal was accepted and subsequently, the centre set up over 15 such hospitals across 6 states in India – Gujarat, Maharashtra, Kerala, Karnataka, Delhi and Bihar. These places were first scoped out with the help of our on-ground partners and they were then furnished with basic hospital infrastructure that was developed and manufactured in house. This included beds, side tables and partitioning systems. The costs were kept very low using recyclable corrugated cardboard Over 2000 beds were set up in record time and help relieve the burden on an overstressed system.

AnantU covid-19 Corrugated cardboard beds

When the pandemic hit for the first time, the availability of beds was a major problem. Conventional supply could not keep up and prices skyrocketed making it extremely difficult for hospitals and organisations to set up COVID care centres and temporary hospitals.

The CS took a unique approach to develop ultra-low-cost beds that could be recycled after the need was over and would serve to deliver at the same parameters as conventional beds. There were other instances of cardboard beds in the country but they failed as none of them could be sanitized and were very vulnerable to any liquid spills. The beds developed by the CS with its partners were coated with a thin film of plastic that easily separates during recycling but protects the underlying corrugated board from moisture. This made it possible for them to be easily sanitized and reused multiple times.

These beds were strengthened using a unique strut design and could take weights upto 300 kgs.

COVID-19 frontline warriors overalls

Foundation year student Aditi Bhalekar’s design won the best entry for the design contest organised by the Anant Centre for Sustainability. The competition required participants to design scrubs for the Covid-19 frontline warriors such as doctors, nurses and volunteers, that they can wear along with their PPE kits.

Aditi designed a comfortable and hassle-free jumpsuit that can be worn easily along with the PPE kit. The added details such as the zipper in the front make the scrub accessible, and the multiple pockets make it easy for the users to keep track of their possessions. The scrub uses good quality cotton-mix fabric which is cost-effective than the usual scrubs and affordable. At the back of the suit is written covid warrior thus instilling a sense of pride among the frontline warriors wearing it.

50 pieces of this winning design were worn by doctors and nurses at the Anant Covid-19 Recovery Facility in Nagambaug, Mumbai. This facility was set up and funded in May 2020 by Anant National University.