According to a recent report by TOI, India’s medical forces are currently experiencing a shortage of PPE (personal protective equipment) and N95 masks because of the rapid increase of coronavirus cases with each passing day.
To battle this crisis, a hospital in Kerala has developed walk-in kiosks for quick, easy, and safer sample collection to test if a person is infected with COVID-19, reports India Today.
These kiosks were created so that samples of suspected patients can be collected without the use of PPE. These kiosks are almost fully sealed. The cubicle has a sealed glass front. They have two openings which have gloves attached to it using which a medical practitioner standing in the cubicle can collect samples, reports NDTV.
The medical practitioners will be standing inside the kiosk to collect the throat swabs without directly exposing themselves. The gloves are to be cleaned with a sanitizer after a person uses it.
These kiosks can also be set anywhere. This is particularly useful for the easy sample collection of suspected coronavirus hotspots.
6 of such kiosks, which were first seen in South-Korea, have been created till now and is the first of its kind in India. In South-Korea, these kiosks helped in the mass testing of coronavirus and helped curb the spread of the disease.
“Each cubicle costs Rs 40,000. In an hour, we can test around 40-50 samples. This drastically reduces the need for PPE kits and protects the medical practitioner and the patient. If COVID 19 reaches community spread level, we will need at least 20-30 such cubicles for the district,” said Dr Ganesh Mohan of Kalamassery Medical College.
Here’s a video giving a full view of the kiosk:
What a brilliant initiative by Kerala! We hope other states develop such kiosks to help put brakes on the coronavirus.