Telangana: IICT and Cipla distribute one lakh face masks in six months

The ‘SaanS’ joint initiative was launched in August in collaboration with an MSME ‘Khar Energy Optimisers, have achieved the goal of producing and distributing a lakh face masks.

Hyderabad: Six months into the launch of the ‘SaanS’ initiative, aimed at producing and free distribution of face masks by Indian Institute of Chemical Technology (IICT) in collaboration with Cipla Foundation, 1 lakh masks have been distributed across rural Telangana.

The specially designed face masks have been distributed in 57 villages, 52 institutions comprising 36 government schools, 11 orphanages/old age homes, three police Commissionerates and two hospitals being first responders, besides farmers at four market yards, said Dr. D.Shailaja, Head, Business Development, CSIR-IICT.

The ‘SaanS’ joint initiative was launched in August and within six months, IICT and CF, in collaboration with an MSME ‘Khar Energy Optimisers, have achieved the goal of producing and distributing a lakh face masks. The four layered SaanS mask was designed by Dr. S. Sridhar, Senior Principal Scientist, and his Membrane Team of Process Engineering and Technology Transfer (PETT).

The CSR Manager, CF, Anurag Mishra led efforts to transfer the SaanS mask technology to NGOs and SHGs including Ambuja Cement Foundation and Manndeshi Foundation. “Project SaanS is also supporting vendors who supply the tight porous cotton layers that benefit weavers,” Mishra said.

Rumana Hamied, Managing Trustee, CF said the collaborative effort between top researchers and NGOs ensured scalability in terms of access to a high quality face mask as well as income generating opportunities.

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