Venture Center to manufacture 1 lakh N95 masks for frontline workers

Pune based Venture Center has pledged to raise funding and make 1 lakh N95 masks available to Government approved COVID19 hospitals against their formal requests free of cost

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New Delhi: The Pune based Venture Center located in CSIR-National Chemical Laboratory campus, has announced that it has successfully designed, manufactured and tested N95 masks that meet the relevant NIOSH and ISO standards.
Venture Center has pledged to raise funding and make 1 lakh N95 masks available to Government approved COVID19 hospitals against their formal requests free of cost. These efforts were aided by generous research testing support from TIFR (Mumbai), BARC (Mumbai) and DRDE (DRDO lab in Gwalior). Ultra Autosonic India has been identified as a commercial partner for manufacturing and marketing these masks. Venture Center has previously donated over 1 lakh Face Shields to police personnel, hospitals, testing centers, volunteers, and other frontline workers during April-June 2020.
According to Dr V Premnath, Director, Venture Center, this initiative showcases the commitment of Venture Center’s extended community to delivering the benefits of science and technology to the common people. “The project was executed in record time of 2 months including concept design, prototyping, manufacturing and testing, and all this in the midst of lockdowns. The project is a testament to the persistence, hard work and dedication of the Pune Masks Action Group.” This group, comprising Venture Center’s own staff, startup entrepreneurs, industry professionals, and other well-wishers, was initiated to solve the problem of lack of availability of good quality N95 masks for frontline workers due to issues relating to supply, knowhow gaps, or quality.
Venture Center has announced a website where the N95 Masks (to be made available under the brand name MH12) can be requested by organizations. Under its Project Gratitude, Venture Center plans to raise upto Rs 35 lakhs in order to make available 1 lakh MH12 N95 masks to Government approved COVID19 hospitals and other high risk frontline organizations. The website will also raise donations and CSR support for Project Gratitude.
Mr Pravin Chavan, who led the execution of the project, said “This is the least we could do for the brave frontline workers who are working hard to save lives in this pandemic. It was our duty to rise to the occasion and contribute usefully.”