New Delhi: The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has been playing crucial role in India's fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. In the newest development the DRDO is going to install an oxygen plant at the district COVID Centre here in Maharashtra in the next three days, a senior official said on Tuesday. Collector Ravindra Binwade also said the district administration has undertaken measures to tackle the projected 'third wave' of the coronavirus pandemic.
"The DRDO's oxygen plant has a flow rate of 1,000 litres per minute and can cater to 190 patients at a time. The system can cater to 190 patients at a flow rate of 5 LPM and charge 195 jumbo cylinders per day," deputy collector Ravindra Parlikar said. The plant is being set up under the PM Cares Fund. He said the plant utilizes the Pressure Swing Adsorption (PSA) technique and Molecular Sieve (Zeolite) technology to generate oxygen directly from the atmospheric air.
Presently, the district COVID hospital has liquid oxygen generated plant which supplies oxygen to 100 patients.
DRDO on Monday had launched innovative COVID-19 antibody detection kit DIPCOVAN. The antibody detection kit has been developed indigenously by the DRDO scientists, followed by extensive validation on more than 1,000 patient samples at various COVID-19 designated hospitals in Delhi. Three batches of the product were validated during the last year. The antibody detection kit is approved by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) in April 2021.
(PSU Watch– India's Business News centre that places the spotlight on PSUs, Bureaucracy, Defence and Public Policy is now on Google News. Click here to follow. Also, join PSU Watch Channel in your Telegram. You may also follow us on Twitter here and stay updated.)