University of Engineering and Technology (UET) Lahore Vice Chancellor Dr Syed Mansoor Sarwar had formed four working groups when the coronavirus pandemic started becoming serious and shortage of personal hygiene items and shortage of ventilators started becoming an issue all over the world.
These groups were given the tasks to start work on the local production of following products on urgent basis with the focus to help solve the ongoing problems related to COVID-19 as well as be useful in future under medical emergencies: gel hand sanitizer, disinfectant hand wash, facemasks and ventilator.
Two working groups from Chemical Engineering and Chemistry departments under the supervision of their deans have produced multiple lines of sanitizers, liquid disinfectant soaps, herbal antiviral disinfectants, and alcohol based sprays. The groups have produced these items according to the formulations recommended by World Health Organization (WHO).
Even under the highly inflated current prices of the raw material, the per litre cost of these items came out Rs 1,000, Rs 200, Rs 500-700, and Rs 600 each for sanitizer, liquid disinfectant liquid soap, herbal antiviral disinfectant, and alcohol based spray, respectively. These costs are a fraction of the prices at which these items are being sold in the market, if they are available at all. Under the pre-Coronavirus circumstances, these personal hygiene items can be produced at one third the cost, said one of the team leads.
The university has distributed sanitizers and disinfectant liquid soap among 163 international students who are living in the hostels, guards, and other essential staff. The university plans to provide these items to employees at cost and continue their production in future in collaboration with local industry for provision to general public at highly competitive prices as part of public service by the university.
Three teams from Mechatronics Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, and Electrical Engineering departments are working on the design and prototyping of cost effective ventilators. They are submitted proposals for funding through HEC’s RAPID Research and Innovation Proposals as well as PM Task Force on Knowledge Economy invitation for proposals under Indigenously Developed Ventilators for Prototype Testing
These initiatives are being spearheaded by Dr Shahid Rafique, Dr Naveed Ramzan, Dr Abdul Ghaffar, Dr K M Hassan, Dr Nasir Hayat, Dr Tanveer Iqbal, Dr Saima Tahir, Dr Ali Raza, Dr Ali Kazim, Dr Asif Ali Qaiser, and Mr Qazi Omar.