A technocrat turned IAS officer deputed in West Singhbhum has designed an indigenously built face shield for frontline health workers and police personnel handling people with symptoms of Covid-19.

West Singhbhum deputy development commissioner (DDC) Aditya Ranjan, along with sakhi mandal (women self help groups) members under Jharkhand State Livelihood Promotion Society (JSLPS), has manufactured around 20 such face shields.

These were distributed among the senior administrative officials and police personnel at Jagannathpur block in West Singhbhum, around 120km south of Jamshedpur, on Wednesday evening.

“The face shields are designed to protect from fluids that may contain the novel coronavirus,” said Ranjan, a computer engineer from BIT Mesra (2010 batch) and 2014 batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer. “However, it is designed to be worn with a mask and other protective outfit.

“It is made up of three pieces, a face shield, a forehead strap and a silicone strap. The face shield is made of transparent PVC sheet, the forehead strap is made of rexine belt, with Velcro sticker at the back and 25mm foam at the head to ease breathing and prevent it from sticking to the nose and face,” said Ranjan.

The shields can be assembled in less than two minutes and are fully adjustable. They can be worn in two ways, regular fit and extra spaced.

“We apprehend a surge in the number of samples for novel coronavirus testing soon and healthcare workers will have to work 24x7 to test people who might be carrying the virus. These workers are in dire need of face shields, a vital component of personal protective equipment (PPE), for protection of the facial area and associated mucous membrane (eyes, nose, mouth) from splashes, sprays and spatter of body fluid,” said Ranjan.

“However we are facing a crisis in PPE. Even the solo face shield costs nearly Rs 300 apiece (including transportation cost and GST) while we are manufacturing these at Rs 110 per piece,” he said.

The face shields are being made by sakhi mandals at the Chaibasa Sadar block and have already landed an order of 500 pieces from the South Eastern Railway Chakradharpur division.

West Singhbhum deputy commissioner Arava Rajkamal said: “It is needed for the RPF and even the police personnel as they will have to deal with people having Covid-19 symptoms or are thought to be carriers of the virus at the quarantine centres, and also while handling the flouters during the lockdown period.”

Ranjan had earned laurels last week for indigenously developing a phone booth Covid-19 sample collection centre at Chaibasa Sadar Hospital in West Singhbhum, around 65km south of Jamshedpur.

The phone booth sample collection centre does not require any PPE, masks or gloves and also has cut down on manpower requirement for collection of throat and nasal swabs, ensuring faster and efficient collection of samples at Covid-19 hotspots and border checkpoints, and providing physical safety for staff from unruly crowds.