Face masks have become an indispensable part of our daily lives. On streets, in shops and on public transport, wearing masks has become compulsory in many nations, not just India. But when it comes to healthcare professionals, they have to interact with patients on a daily basis, without masks, whether or not they are suffering from the disease.

Shri Veera Raghava Rao, District Collector, Ramanathapuram receiving NT masks by Shri. Saleem, Trustee, Green Rameswaram. Masks were given to Block Health Superintendent, Shri Mahendran for use in COVID-19 treatment centers and quarantine centers

In fact, thousands of healthcare professionals have lost their lives since this crisis took shape - and probably the most dominant reason was sample collection, where the healthcare professionals had no choice but to remove the patients’ face mask and conduct swab collection.

Similarly, face masks create a communication challenge for people who were deaf or hard of hearing. In such a scenario, Comofi Medtech, which was a robotics company at core - creating solutions for automated surgical intervention; shifted its entire manufacturing base towards creating a solution for this very problem.

With support from Department of Science & Technology India, and KIIT technology business incubator under the CAWACH program, Comofi Medtech launched two variations of N-95 transparent masks - also known as NT masks. Built with the best interests of the healthcare workers in mind, the NT Mask from Comofi Medtech effectively eliminates their droplet exposure while conducting tests or during treatment.

The NT Masks also comes with a unique access window that enables swab collection or endoscopic treatments without the patient requiring to remove their face mask. And with a unique, breathable fabric-based construction, these masks are anti-fogging for better visibility. In terms of protection, the company claims that these masks offer 99.9% bacterial filtration efficiency which is even better than N-95 masks.

According to Dr. Satish Kalme, Founder & CEO, Comofi Medtech, “While our NT masks offer better breathability and purification than N95 masks, our goal is to make it easily available for the underprivileged communities. With considerable support from the local government in procuring raw materials and setting up manufacturing, today we have a production capacity of 2000 NT masks per day.”

To date, Comofi Medtech has donated over 10,000 masks across Gujarat, Maharashtra, Tamilnadu, along with some tribal runs. In the long run, the company plans to donate over 32,000 masks to healthcare workers and the community.

With our healthcare professionals tackling this crisis while putting their lives at risk, we need more such startups to create innovative solutions for them. And with startups like Comofi Medtech inching towards economic-yet-innovative solutions, we can expect many more businesses to innovate and help us rise out of this crisis.