On 1st May 2020, The Indian Institute of Technology(IIT) Alumni Council launched a “COVID-19 test bus” in Mumbai, Maharashtra and inaugurated by Chief Minister Uddhav Thackery, Health Minister Rajesh Tope and Praveen Pardeshi.
Key points:
i.The COVID-19 Testing bus will reduce 80% of the testing cost without compromising on the testing capacity.
ii.According to the IIT alumni council, a global alumni body for all the 23 IITs this will increase the testing capacity within 100 days and support the health department in controlling the COVID-19 pandemic.
iii.The IIT C19 bus is based on the Kodoy architecture model that is made to support the affordable and rapid testing which involves e-vehicles for contactless sample collections and Telemedicine, AI-based teleradiology and algorithm based on pooled genetic testing and mega-labs capable of conducting upto 5 million tests per month per lab.
iv.A digital Chest X-ray will be carried out and sent to the doctors online and the healthcare staff will use AI to see the probability of the person having coronavirus.
v.Swab from mouth and throat done across a glass screen to protect the technician from any kind of contact with the patient and the samples are sent to the diagnostic centers.
vi.The bus has the capacity to collect 10-15 samples per hour.
- The bus is an initiative by the C19 Taskforce of IIT Alumni Council, in support with the Health Department of MCGM(Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai), Dr Muffazal Lakadawala (Chief Medical Officer and Mission Director at NSCI (National Safety Council of India )) and Krsnaa Diagnostics, Mumbai.
- India’s first test bus for the disease was flagged off on Maharashtra Day.
PAN IIT ALumni India:
Pan IIT Alumni India is an organisation representing alumni of all IIT.
Registered on– 20 September 2006
Headquarters– IIT Delhi, New Delhi
Chairman– Ramnath S Mani
Vice-Chairman– Pawan Kumar
