Assam trio makes face masks, shields

DIY shields could be a vital strategy as we unlock .... The good thing about them is that they can be sterilised and reused DIPANNITA KAUSHIK

MUMBAI:AS a non-practising medical doctor, Dipannita Kaushik decided she had to pitch in as the coronavirus pandemic raged across the globe. So the 29-yearold from Guwahati, Assam, who is currently pursuing a Masters in public health, decided to make face shields and masks for workers on the frontline with the help of her mother and her fiancé, reusing old X-ray and projector sheets.

“I know what it’s like to not have proper gear, even in ordinary times,” said Kaushik, who has served as a resident at an Apollo hospital and at Pratiksha Hospital in Assam.

“During an outbreak like this one, I can’t even imagine the risks. Often the most underequipped and severely affected are the Asha [accredited social health activists], multipurpose health workers and anganwadi workers who are actually doing the grass root data collection and who act as a bridge between the healthcare community and the population. So I wanted to do this for them.”

Kaushik’s mother, Simarekha Bhagowati, 56, a college professor, had plenty of old OHP sheets lying around, leftovers from Math lectures in earlier decades. They use multiple strips of the stiff X-ray sheets to make each frame; the projector films form the veil.

Kaushik’s fiancé, Tuhin Bhuyan, 28, a software engineer, helps put the shields together using craft glue. Her mother pitches in with the masks, on their sewing machine.

Their first batch of 40 masks and shields was ready by the first week of April. “The second part of my job was to reach the right people,” Kaushik said. She contacted Dr Santimoyee Barua, the surveillance medical officer at the ministry of health and family welfare in Guwahati, who said she would be glad to have the consignment.

The second batch was ready by the middle of May and went to Dr Nabin Bhuyan, medical superintendent at the Morigaon Civil Hospital, a designated facility for Covid-positive cases.

“Such quick thinking can be life-saving,” said Barua. “The shields especially, because of the greater protection they offer, are very useful to the Asha and multipurpose workers who are out in the field, tracing suspected Covid-19 infections.”

Her third batch, Kaushik said, will go to traffic personnel, street vendors and local shopkeepers later this month. Meanwhile, she has also posted Youtube tutorials to help others make such kits too.

“DIY shields could be a vital strategy as we unlock and prepare for life amid the virus,” she said. “The good thing about them is that they can also be sterilised and reused, again and again, until some component gives way. It’s just what we need.”

Each kit takes the group of three around 10 minutes to make. And since she has had plenty of time indoors, Kaushik said it’s been a good way to keep busy and make herself useful, outside her regular routine of housework and thesis work.

“Her masks more than meet our standards,” Nabin Bhuyan said. “We have used them in the hospital and out in the field. Innovative, cost-effective ventures like these are vital in resourceconstrained countries like ours.”