Kolkata's Ad-O-Graphy develops Covid-19 testing kiosk, disinfection tunnel

The disinfection tunnel is a booth wherein a person can walk through where the disinfectant gets sprayed on the person to get rid of the microbes and pathogens present on the surface.

The testing kiosk, however, could be considered as a replacement for PPE kits. The kiosk does not require health workers to wear protective gear. A doctor standing on one side of the partition can check the patient on the other side by making use of the glove compartment, thus avoiding contact with the person.

Commenting on the idea of the initiative, Snehangshu Ganguly, director at Ad-O-Graphy, said, "During this trying times, we as a team took an initiative to fight this pandemic along with the society. We believe that our responsibility toward society is to help it improve and thrive."

He said that the company is ready to help the state government in every possible means. The company, which is into fabrication since the last two decades, caters to clients pan India.

Ganguly said that the development of the tunnel was inspired by a cooling system displayed at a trade fair in China back in 2015. "Due to extreme heat and dry climate at that point of time, the organiser had used a 360-degree mist cooling system, which used to provide instant relief to the visitors. The concept was taken from there and our technical team modified it to make proper use of the system."

Based on the concept of a 360-degree mist cooling system, Ad-O-Graphy developed two models for different use. Ganguly said that it did not take much time to get the technical aspects in place relating to the dimension, materials and technology in constructing the tunnel and the testing kiosk.

"However, the disinfectant chemical is still under contemplation as it might have health hazards," he cautioned. 

"All our practical activities are individual expressions of the historically formed social practice of humanity where we all need to stand together and make a favourable move in its interest," Ganguly said while explaining the motive behind such an initiative.

The testing kiosk is made up of iron square tube, CR sheet, acrylic, glass, plywood/MDF, printed vinyl and other electrical fittings. The tunnel, however, uses pump, jet nozzle and motion sensors along with the materials used for the kiosk.

"We took seven days to manufacture the first unit and there after every one and half days we are making one unit," said Ganguly. However, the main challenges the company faced were the constraint of workforce, limited availability of raw materials and service support 

"The feedback on kiosk has been very positive so far and we have been advised to keep the production uninterrupted," concluded Ganguly.