As the country fights a shortage of personal protection equipment (PPEs) across segments and other things required to fight coronavirus, an army officer and his wife have come forward to help the troops by formulating hand sanitizers.
Under the ongoing 'Operation Namaste' launched by the Indian Army to fight against the pandemic of COVID-19, this project has taken shape. The officer is posted with the electronics and mechanical engineers' workshop of the Rising Star Corps based at Yol Cantt in Himachal Pradesh.
Low-cost sanitizer for army & their families
Major Rohit Rathee and his wife Srishti Singh have together successfully manufactured a sanitizer which is alcohol and aloe vera based, and added to the battle against coronavirus is a huge way. They stated that this sanitizer is only meant for the troops in the Army and their families.
Major Rathee and Srishti have made the low-cost sanitizer in accordance with World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines on hand hygiene and healthcare.
Shortage of PPEs
Recently the entire nation was reeling under a shortage of hand sanitizers after people had started stocking up on sanitizers and face masks. The market shelves were empty and masks and sanitizers were being sold at a very high cost.
The cost of this sanitizer is Rs 320 per litre, which is almost half the price of the sanitizers available in the market. The couple has prepared 809 litres of sanitizer till date and plans to do more as the need arises.
While Major Rathee is posted in Yol, his wife is a full-time research scholar pursuing PhD at Vellore Institute of Technology in Tamil Nadu.
According to the couple, they can formulate 100 litres of hand sanitizer on a daily basis. The production can be increased if they get chemicals from the local market. Both of them have made the sanitizer based on a 'no profit and no loss' model and they intend to continue doing so.
Recently, Unilever had come forward stating that they have already started production of a low-cost hand sanitizer as compared to their previously selling hand sanitizer in order to fulfil the shortage prevalent in the market.
