WR’s Lower Parel workshop manufactures intubation boxes to fight COVID 19

In the fight towards the deadly Coronavirus Pandemic, Western Railway’s employees have displayed exemplary skills and dedication in efforts to battle the virus effectively. Western Railway’s several workshops have come forward with ingenious ways by making reusable masks in large amounts, sanitizers as per the guidelines given by WHO, Coveralls, caps, Beds, non contact water taps, IV stands, Isolation coaches and others.

To make the
fight more effective for the heroes in hospitals, Western Railway’s Lower Parel
Workshop created Intubation Boxes as a new medical accessory for the benefit of
doctors and nurses. 

According to a
press release issued by WR CPRO Ravinder Bhakar, a request had come from some
of our medical team to develop such kind of accessory so that direct contact
could be avoided while handling COVID patient for medical staff. Under the
guidance of Arun Kumar Singh – Dy. Chief Mechanical Engineer(R) of Lower Parel
Workshop, the manufacturing of the Intubation Boxes took place at the Basic Training
Centre of the Carriage Repair Workshop, Lower Parel.

Lower Parel
workshop perhaps is the first among Railways to manufacture and supply of
Intubation boxes to Jagjivan Ram Hospital a converted COVID hospital of Western
Railway in Mumbai. As of now, a total of five such accessories have been
manufactured and handed over to the hospital. The boxes are being made
ensuring  all the necessary precautions needed for operating the patient
under COVID-19 as suggested by medical team. 

Box contains a
curved side to insert patients head to his chest in addition to two more holes
for the doctors to put their hands in for operating. The boxes are manufactured
using 3 mm transparent Acrylic sheets and the size of each box are of 30″
24″ 20″ in height. Weighing only 2 to 3 kg and sealed to perfection
by providing L type PVC moulding of 1” fixed with adhesive and nut bolts, makes
it Airtight .  

The intubation
boxes are helpful for the doctors and nurses as it avoids direct contact with
the patient. The construction of the box is very useful in a way that a patient
can be treated mainly during the procedure while putting tube to connect the
ventilator or while taking a throat swab etc. The intubation box reduces the
infection threat to a wider extent. 

The team that
executed the task under the leadership of Prashant Deshmukh – Senior Section
Engineer, in-charge of Basic Training Centre along with Senior Section
Engineers Sanjay Kumar Bhavsar, Satish Samrut,  Arvind Javadia and
apprentices Jus Sisodia, Siddesh Sane, Pratik Tandel, Satish Sharma, Rakesh
Mirapagar and Narendra Manel were instrumental in getting these Intubation
Boxes made to completion. Western Railway salutes their collective effort to
come forward in the fight towards Coronavirus Pandemic.