India comes out with suitable answers when pushed against the wall. The Covid-19 pandemic is yet another example to prove that country’s response to challenges is phenomenal, said G Satheesh Reddy, Chairman, DRDO.

Addressing a conference held to mark the 12th Foundation Day of the Indian Institute of Technology, Hyderabad (IIT-H) on Sunday, he said that from a meagre capacity of 47,000 personal protection equipment (PPE) kits a year before the pandemic hit, the country quickly added capacity to make six lakh PPEs a day.

It is the same case with ventilators too, with indigenous designs coming in from public and private organisations, he said.

Listing out measures being initiated by the country in general and DRDO in particular, he said that the research organisation was opening up patents and offering financial help to start-ups to design and develop products locally.

D Nageshwar Reddy, Chairman of the Asian Institute of Gastroenterology (AIG), said that it’s time for engineering institutes and hospitals to join hands to develop cost-effective products for the healthcare industry.

He stressed the need for the development of the ecosystem with active participation from educational institutes, industry and the public sector. He said artificial intelligence and bio-informatics were playing a big role in Covid-19 research.

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