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3D Usher helps save our frontline Covid-19 heroes
Corona virus or Covid-19 has changed the lives of everyone across the globe since the pandemic spread in China in December 2019. As the number of people affected worldwide crosses the 1,430,000-patient mark and with no sign of the virus coming under control, the lives of even our care-givers — doctors, nurses and paramedics — are at risk!
Even though the government and private companies in India are trying their best to tackle this most unusual situation, with the numbers of those afflicted surging each day, a huge gap has been created between the need for medical equipment, such as personal protective equipment (PPE), and their availability in the market!
Even as India’s frontline healthcare professionals fighting Covid-19 face huge shortages of PPE while the country braces for a coronavirus tsunami, 3D Usher — under the stewardship of Gopal Krishna, Co-Founder — has raised donations to provide 3,000 pieces of PPE equipment intending to scale up to 100,000.
3D Usher bails out India
Since its inception, 3D Usher has been designing and manufacturing several healthcare and safety products. The company wanted to use its network for manufacturing and supplying safety kits to help ‘flatten the curve’. As an urgent measure, it quickly enabled the supply of PPE kits — including head covers, face masks, face shields, surgical gowns, hand gloves and shoe covers. The manufacture of these kits was ramped up to meet the growing demand from healthcare staff, police personnel and social workers.
3D Usher has also set up a dedicated unit to manufacture face shields. Each day, it is preparing 1,000 face shields made of disposable OHP sheets to prevent frontline workers from coming into contact with any foreign object. The advanced version of the face shield with reusable headband is being manufactured using the ‘injection molding’ technique, which helps it produce reusable shields by bringing down
PPE shortage worldwide
Being a global startup, when the number of cases of coronavirus spiked across the globe, 3D Usher saw a large number of people reaching out to the company from Europe and North America for supply of essential medical items. But demand far outstripped supply and logistical restrictions in many countries added to the burden. The number of cases surged in New York and the Chinese supply chain was destroyed, impacting the overall supply chain.
This situation worsened when the government introduced a total lockdown in India on March 25 and India fell far short of the demand for coveralls, masks, gloves and other items. Incidentally, WHO had, in February, called on industry and governments to increase manufacturing by 40% to meet the spiralling global demand.
Earlier last week, state-owned HLL Lifecare Ltd, the government’s nodal agency on procurement, had floated a global tender seeking PPE for healthcare personnel at the frontline of the battle against Covid-19. The government’s containment plan document provides a guide to PPE requirements. Containment of a cluster — lasting a couple of months for a population of 100,000 — might require 2 million triple-layer masks, 200,000 gloves, 100,000 N-95 masks and about 50,000 PPE kits.
disposable wastage.
Fundraiser campaign
Being a startup with low-size cash backup, 3D Usher decided to create a fundraiser campaign to raise INR 500,000 for donating 250 safety kits and 1,000 hands-free door-openers to help India’s frontline warriors. Within 48 hours of starting the campaign, it managed to raise 25% of the intended amount with the help of 30 contributors. The goal over the next 30 days is to deliver 2,500 safety kits and 10,000 units of hands-free door-openers. Till date, the company has raised over 50% of its campaign goal with the help of 81 supporters.
Future plans
The 3D Usher team is working on multiple items to help in the fight against Covid-19.
- Multi-Purpose Hand Key: This is a device in the form of a key to help people operate multiple touch-points — ATM keys, lift buttons, door bells and even public door handles — without using their bare hands. This device can be fixed on to the index and middle fingers to avoid touch-points
- Hands-free Door-Opener: This device, to be attached to door handles — among the most germ-infested objects in hospitals, medical labs and elderly homes — can be installed to prevent touching of the handles with bare hands
About 3D Usher:
- 3D Usher is an Indo-US startup with offices in Hyderabad, India and Syracuse (New York)
- 3D Usher has been working towards making on-demand manufacturing accessible to the masses by building an AI-driven algorithm that predicts the best manufacturing process and vendor for any manufacturing requirement
- 3D Usher has manufactured over 45,000 parts in different manufacturing techniques and has 150+ customers across India, the US, Canada and Europe
- 3D Usher was started in 2018 by Gopal Krishna, Faizan Mehdi, Dhiraj Nayak,Thea Vinereanu and Poorna Uppala
The moving force
- Faizan Mehdi has previous expertise in leading teams and operating sales across multiple domains
- Dhiraj Nayak has previous expertise in operating and scaling up startups and comes from a manufacturing and product development background
- Poorna Uppala, also an early-stage investor, has vast experience in operating companies and has ramped up startups into large-scale organizations
*Donations can be made online by using the following link: http://bit.ly/k3du