Researchers at Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology (SCTIMST), an autonomous institute under the DST, have developed a canister bag lined with super-absorbent material for safe handling and disposal of respiratory secretions in hospitals for ICU patients of Covid-19 and TB or those with copious respiratory secretions treated in the wards.
The super-absorbent material containing an effective disinfectant is named “AcryloSorb”.
“When the patient is admitted to the hospital, secretions are sucked into bottles or canisters using a vacuum line and discarded through the waste fluid disposal system after subjecting to the decontamination process.
“There is a high risk of contamination during the handling, and the disposal needs well-equipped sluice rooms with disinfection facilities. The safety threat and manpower issues will be manifold in less equipped hospitals or temporary isolation wards set up during pandemics,” said a scientist from the institute.
The canister bags can absorb 500 ml of secretions and solidify it immediately. In addition to that, the whole system will be decontaminated within no time because of the presence of disinfectant, he said.
The SCTIMST team behind the technology are biomaterial scientists and clinicians Dr. Manju, S, Dr. Manoj Komath, Dr. Asha Kishore, Dr. Ajay Prasad Hrishi. The know-how of the AcryloSorb suction canister liner (CL Series) bags has been transferred to Romsons Scientific and Surgical Pvt. Ltd for manufacture and immediate marketing. The approximate cost will be Rs 100/- for each canister liner bag.
