Meenakshi Hospital Designs Low Cost Respirator Offering 100% Protection from COVID-19 Infections in Operation Theatres
May 22 2020: Meenakshi Hospital, the largest multispecialty hospital in Thanjavur and a part of Meenakshi Mission Hospital and Research Centre, Madurai, has designed a cost-effective purifying respirator system that provides 100% protection from Covid-19 infection for surgeons and other healthcare professionals in operation theatres. This ingenious design, the first in the world, is named Tanjore Air Purifying Respirator (TAPR). Essentially, the system securely delivers compressed medical grade compressed air, already available in operation theatres for administering anesthesia and operating pneumatic drills, to healthcare professionals through a hood. A TAPR unit can be set up at as low as Rs 3,000 per person. In comparison, the conventional air purifying system, known as Power Air Purifying Respirator (PAPR), costs Rs 1.2 lakhs per person. Commenting about TAPR, Dr Guru Shankar , Chairman, Meenakshi Hospital, said, “Experts are of the op...