Amid the clamour from medical professionals that there are not enough Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) available, the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) announced that it has developed a new hazmat suit.
In a statement, the DRDO said the suit originated out of a range of technologies developed to protect troops against chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) agents.
The DRDO said it developed the CBRN Permeable Suit Mk V for the army and the National Disaster Response Force (53,000 units had been supplied to these forces).
“The labs have applied their technical knowledge and expertise in textile, coating technology and nanotechnology into research to find a solution in the form of a bio-suit to fight COVID-19,” the DRDO said.
This resulted in finding a specific type of fabric with a specific type of coating for making a bio-suit that can keep the medical, paramedical and other personnel requiring PPE safe from the disease, it said.
The DRDO clarified that the suit has been subjected to rigorous testing for textile parameters as well as protection against synthetic blood. It added that mass production of the suit will begin soon.
Initial problems
The DRDO said although a production capacity of 7,000 suits per day exists in the country, that another industry is being brought in with the experience in garment technology to ramp up the capacity to 15,000 suits per day.
Another hurdle was the non-availability of seam sealing tapes. DRDO said it has now prepared a special sealant as an alternative to seam sealing tape based on the sealant used in submarine applications.