The country’s leading pharmaceuticals manufacturer Beximco Pharma has recently donated a number of negative pressure isolation canopies to Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU) in order to contain the spread of Covid-19 from patients to healthcare workers.
The isolation canopy was developed by a multi-institutional team of researchers led by Prof Khondkar Siddique-e-Rabbani, founding chairperson and now honorary professor of Biomedical Physics and Technology Department in Dhaka University, following clinical requirements suggested by a team led by Professor AKM Akhtaruzzaman, head of Anaesthesia, Analgesia and Intensive Care Medicine Department of BSMMU.
Engineers of Asia Pacific University and a non-profit manufacturing company named BiBEAT Ltd were also involved in the project.
"Covid-19 is highly contagious and patients pose a great risk to other patients as well as health workers including doctors and nurses in a hospital setting. The indigenously developed negative pressure isolation canopy will cover the patient on a hospital bed especially in ICU, and protect others from getting infected by creating a negative pressure environment inside the canopy.” Prof Rabbani said.
This canopy uses an ultraviolet light (UVC) chamber which destroys all micro-organisms and viruses before the air is further disinfected and cleaned by aHEPA filter.
Thus the locally developed canopy is better and more advanced than other similar devices currently available in many countries.
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The cost of the device is also significantly less compared to those made by foreign countries since the technology is homegrown.
BSMMU VC Prof Kanak Kanti Barua and DU VC Md Akhtaruzzaman provided logistic support and lauded the efforts taken by the researchers during this pandemic.
"Healthcare workers including doctors and nurses face tremendous challenges while treating Covid-19 patients in hospitals. We are proud to be a part of this important initiative from our researchers which will play a critical role in protecting the frontline medical staff," said Beximco Pharma managing director Nazmul Hassan MP.
Beximco Pharma and Sweden's Uppsala University funded this research project and the first prototype of the isolation canopy was demonstrated at BSMMU in July earlier this year.
Later, four units were made by BiBEAT Ltd and delivered in October.
Beximco provided full funding and logistics support to develop these isolation canopies for BSMMU.
Earlier on May 21 of this year, Beximco Pharma became the first in the world to launch generic Remdesivir (under the brand name Bemsivir) and since then the company has been providing this drug free of cost to Government designated Covid-19 hospitals in Bangladesh.
Remdesivir, a drug developed by Gilead Sciences, came into light as one of the most promising medicines to treat Covid-19 cases, a severely accute respiratory disease caused by the novel coronavirus.
US drug authorities granted emergency use of it recently, paving the way for its broader use in US hospitals, after Gilead provided data showing the drug had helped treat Covid-19 patients.
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Beximco Pharma has also supplied Remdesivir to a number of countries on humanitarian grounds. This act of kindness has drawn positive attention and notes of praise from around the world.
Beyond therapeutics, Beximco Pharma also took initiatives across diverse areas during the Covid-19 pandemic, which included supplying adequate quantity high quality PPEs to healthcare workers, developing negative pressure isolation canopy for Covid-19 patients in hospitals, conducting clinical trials on Remdesivir and other repurposed drugs, and supporting medical community with telemedicine projects.
Beximco Pharma is a leading exporter of pharmaceuticals in Bangladesh and it has a geographic footprint in more than 50 countries.
In August 2016, Beximco Pharma became the first Bangladeshi pharmaceutical company to export medicine to the US market following its manufacturing site approval by the US FDA in June 2015.
