IIT Roorkee develops telephone-style COVID-19 screening booth, donates it to Roorkee Civil Hospital

A team of IIT Roorkee researchers led by Professor Soumitra Satapathi has developed a portable COVID-19 screening booth in collaboration with the Roorkee Nagar Nigam for sample collection of the coronavirus suspects.

The team of IIT Roorkee comprising research scholars Prathul Nath, Naveen Kumar Tailor, Tejasvini Sharma and Anshu Kumar from Integrated Nanophotonics and Biomaterials (LINB) in the Physics Department are the brain behind the innovation.

"IIT Roorkee's telephone booth style screening platform will eliminate the need for costly PPE kit which is currently being used by medical staff for screening COVID-19 patients," said Satapathi while adding that this project was financed by the Roorkee Municipal Corporation.

He further said, "The completely vacuum-sealed booth can house medical personnel. It enables the healthcare personnel to collect the swab samples of the patient through long gloves and therefore eliminates the chances of any potential human contact. The whole sample collection procedure can be completed in five minutes."

The booth needs to be stized after each sample collection," he added.

Professor Msh Shrikhande, Dean Research, IIT Roorkee, along with Municipal Commissioner Nupur Verma, handed-over this screening booth to Roorkee Civil hospital. Professor KL Yadav, Head, Department of Physics and Dr Alok Anand, Medical Officer, IIT Roorkee were also present on the occasion.

( With inputs from ANI )