Healthcare Projects like Sanitizer, Surgical & Nitrile, Face Mask, PPE Kit

During this pandemic situation of COVID-19, there are many healthcare projects being undertaken such as that of hand sanitizer, face mask manufacturing as well as manufacturing of PPE kits. Let us go through a brief of these, one by one: 

Hand Sanitizers are also known as hand antiseptics and are actually being used as an alternative to hand washing with water and soap. Hand sanitizers are being made in different forms such as liquid solutions (sprays), gel and foam. It needs to be well understood and noted that the base of all hand sanitizers is alcohol which is Isopropanol, povidone-iodine or ethanol propanol. These sanitizers are very effective in killing micro organisms. The raw materials for these projects are easily available in local market, local sugar factories or even distilleries. When financial analysis of this project is undertaken, various factors are considered such as recurring expenses, depreciation on tools, depreciation on office furniture, depreciation on machinery, interest on total investment, and so on. The equipments for manufacturing of hand sanitizer are distillation machine, weighing scale, packing machine, mixing machine, blanching machine, working table, electrical wiring, and few more to add on. 

Let us now try to understand how surgical masks are made. These are simply a strip of cloth tied. These are made of non-woven fabrics which are made from plastics such as polypropylene. These are available in different grades and styles as per the level of protection needed by the user. These masks are used to keep the operating rooms extremely sterile so that germs do not reach the patient from the mouth and the nose of people surrounding him/her. The projects manufacturing surgical masks are taking care of four different kinds of masks: masks giving minimum protection, level 1 masks, level2 masks and level 3 masks. All these masks are made to function as effective barriers to aerosols or splashes (such as sneezing or moisture). Surgical masks render effective bacteria filtration and give air permeability as well. These masks can be made out of polyester, polycarbonate, polyethylene or polystyrene.  

PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) Kits are being increasingly used during this pandemic situation of COVID-19. These kits include gowns, gloves, head covers, shoe covers, eye protection, masks, respirators, googles as well as face shields. The companies manufacturing PPE kits do up-to-date analysis of the market trends as well as technological improvements, take care of the industry trends, have a clear understanding of the competitive landscape as well as have knowledge of key product segments. It is important to take care of the plant capacity, required plant and machinery for manufacturing PPE kits, flow sheet diagrams, list of suppliers, list of raw materials required, profitability analysis and take care of the break even analysis as well. The use of PPE kits is increasing with outbreaks of this pandemic and the demand of these kits is increasing tremendously in the healthcare industry. Thus, this segment is indeed an interesting segment of research in the healthcare domain and needs much attention.