JOIN USKerala develops Walk-in Sample Kiosk to minimise PPE kits
At a time when a shortage of medical items like personal protection kits has become a global issue owing to COVID-19, Kerala has come up with Walk-in Sample Kiosk (WISK) which will help health workers collect throat swabs without using personal protection kits.
The Ernakulam government medical college hospital has developed WISK in association with the district administration. The model was the development on the lines of the sample collection method adopted in South Korea.
The kiosk, fitted with ultraviolet light, gloves and exhaust fan, itself will function as a personal protection kit. The health worker will remain in the kiosk and collect the throat swab using the gloves attached to it. The gloves would be sanitised after each use.
Ernakulam medical college resident medical officer Dr. Ganesh Mohan, who led a team that developed the WISK, told DH that the inspiration for developing the model was a picture seen on social media regarding a similar sample collection in South Korea.
Apart from cost-effectiveness, WISK also enables swift sample collection especially in the case of mass collection drives. Moreover, it could be easily transported to any place for carrying out mass sample collection drive. At present COVID-19 suspects need to be taken to any of the designated hospitals in ambulances for sample collection.
Ernakulam district collector S Suhas said that WISK would be an ideal solution to reduce single-usable personal protection kit use, which costs up to Rs. 1,000. The production cost of WISK was around Rs. 40,000. It could be brought down in the case of mass production.
At present two kiosks were developed which would be used in Ernakulam district hospital. The district administration also sought the support from voluntary organisations is developing more WISKs.
Dr. Ganesh said that even after COVID, WISKs could be used as a safety apparatus for health workers for sample collection and thereby the use of single-use items could be reduced.