<p>In order to prevent doctors and paramedics from getting infected when they take off personal protective equipment (PPE), a private hospital has installed an ultraviolet rays sanitisation chamber outside its Covid-19 ward where healthcare workers get "sanitised". </p>.<p>Dr Naresh Shetty, president, MS Ramaiah Hospital, where more than 300 Covid patients are being treated, told <span class="italic">DH</span> that 200 healthcare workers working in the Covid ward walk into the chamber at the end of their shift and get sanitised before doffing the head-to-toe PPE. They also wear face shields and goggles before entering the chamber.</p>.<p>Dr Shetty said that so far the staff had not reported any skin irritation. The chamber was developed by Ganapuram Venu, a principal scientist at the Projects and Business Management Group in the Knowledge and Technology Management Division of the National Aerospace Laboratories in the city. </p>.<p>Venu said exposing a used PPE for three seconds to 254-nanometre wavelength of UV rays would kill four microorganisms up to 99.99%. However, he did not personally test the effect of the UV rays on SARS-CoV-2 samples in a virology lab. He also did not publish the findings in a peer-reviewed scientific journal. </p>.<p>"Getting published in a scientific journal takes at least three months. This chamber wasn't developed for academic interests but to be of use to healthcare workers during the pandemic," he said. </p>.<p>Praveen C Ramamurthy, Professor, Department of Materials Engineering, IISc, said his lab merely measured the intensity and wavelength of the ultraviolet radiation and that he cannot comment on the safety of exposure to humans. </p>.<p>Dr Shashank Tripathi, Assistant Professor, Microbiology and Cell Biology Department, Centre for Infectious Disease Research, IISc, said that in the absence of published data, it was difficult to comment on the efficacy of such a set-up. </p>.<p>Independent of this set-up, he observed: "Three seconds is too short a time to kill SARS-CoV-2. Studies have been done with UVC, the highest capacity UV. Humans should not be exposed to that. There are no reports for sterilising humans. It is meant for inanimate objects like PPE or surfaces or air, not humans." </p>.<p>According to a paper published in the American Journal of Infection Control on August 4, high viral loads of SARS-CoV-2 can be inactivated in nine minutes by UVC radiation.</p>.<p>Asked about these observations, Venu said: "The UV rays do not penetrate the PPE. We have run tests to check this."</p>
<p>In order to prevent doctors and paramedics from getting infected when they take off personal protective equipment (PPE), a private hospital has installed an ultraviolet rays sanitisation chamber outside its Covid-19 ward where healthcare workers get "sanitised". </p>.<p>Dr Naresh Shetty, president, MS Ramaiah Hospital, where more than 300 Covid patients are being treated, told <span class="italic">DH</span> that 200 healthcare workers working in the Covid ward walk into the chamber at the end of their shift and get sanitised before doffing the head-to-toe PPE. They also wear face shields and goggles before entering the chamber.</p>.<p>Dr Shetty said that so far the staff had not reported any skin irritation. The chamber was developed by Ganapuram Venu, a principal scientist at the Projects and Business Management Group in the Knowledge and Technology Management Division of the National Aerospace Laboratories in the city. </p>.<p>Venu said exposing a used PPE for three seconds to 254-nanometre wavelength of UV rays would kill four microorganisms up to 99.99%. However, he did not personally test the effect of the UV rays on SARS-CoV-2 samples in a virology lab. He also did not publish the findings in a peer-reviewed scientific journal. </p>.<p>"Getting published in a scientific journal takes at least three months. This chamber wasn't developed for academic interests but to be of use to healthcare workers during the pandemic," he said. </p>.<p>Praveen C Ramamurthy, Professor, Department of Materials Engineering, IISc, said his lab merely measured the intensity and wavelength of the ultraviolet radiation and that he cannot comment on the safety of exposure to humans. </p>.<p>Dr Shashank Tripathi, Assistant Professor, Microbiology and Cell Biology Department, Centre for Infectious Disease Research, IISc, said that in the absence of published data, it was difficult to comment on the efficacy of such a set-up. </p>.<p>Independent of this set-up, he observed: "Three seconds is too short a time to kill SARS-CoV-2. Studies have been done with UVC, the highest capacity UV. Humans should not be exposed to that. There are no reports for sterilising humans. It is meant for inanimate objects like PPE or surfaces or air, not humans." </p>.<p>According to a paper published in the American Journal of Infection Control on August 4, high viral loads of SARS-CoV-2 can be inactivated in nine minutes by UVC radiation.</p>.<p>Asked about these observations, Venu said: "The UV rays do not penetrate the PPE. We have run tests to check this."</p>
