The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has shifted a key testing facility for carrying out quality checks on personal protective equipment (PPE) from Gwalior to New Delhi to cut down delays and ensure faster delivery of the safety gear to healthcare workers battling Covid-19, the defence ministry said in a statement on Thursday.
At a time when the country is facing a shortage of PPE kits, the testing facility has been shifted from Gwalior-based Defence Research Development Establishment (DRDE) to the Delhi-based Institute of Nuclear Medicine & Allied Sciences (INMAS).
“The facility at INMAS is fully operational for testing and evaluation of body suits and masks. More than 50 batches of these items have already been tested at the laboratory,” the ministry said.
The DRDE specialises in developing detection and protection technologies against biological and chemical agents. The statement said the Gwalior laboratory will now test only masks received by HLL Healthcare Limited from foreign countries before they are distributed to various agencies.
PPE kits are sent to DRDO for testing by HLL Lifecare, which is the government’s nodal agency for medical procurement. The kits are distributed to various agencies only after they pass stringent quality tests. A PPE kit contains a full-body suit, masks, goggles, gloves, and shoe covers.
Conducting tests on PPE kits is a challenging task and there can be no room for error as it’s about the safety of healthcare workers, said a senior official familiar with the DRDO’s testing procedures.
{{/usCountry}}Conducting tests on PPE kits is a challenging task and there can be no room for error as it’s about the safety of healthcare workers, said a senior official familiar with the DRDO’s testing procedures.
{{/usCountry}}“Our procedure is quite elaborate and includes synthetic blood penetration test and pressure testing at various levels to ensure that the suits can provide protection to the wearers. In testing, we look for the weakest link which is usually the seams. The safety of healthcare workers is crucial in the fight against coronavirus,” he said. Pressure testing of PPE suits is done at six different levels.
Another official said that the DRDO does not certify samples received from HLL Lifecare for testing as “passed” or “failed”. “We only list out the technical parameters of the PPE kits and send it back to HLL Lifecare Limited. After that, it is for them to decide,” he said.
The DRDO is among the several government agencies that have been at the forefront of the fight against the coronavirus disease. It has developed several products to combat the pandemic including ventilators, PPE kits, large area sanitization solutions and Covid-19 sample collection kiosks.