Consumer goods companies adopt 1 lakh Suraksha Stores
By RATNA BHUSHAN & RASUL BAILAY
ET Bureau | Updated: Apr 16, 2020, 09.14 AM IST
These kiranas will be called Suraksha Stores and registered on the government’s Aarogya Setu app.
New Delhi: India’s biggest consumer goods companies, including Procter & Gamble, ITC, Dabur, Hindustan Unilever, Britannia, Nestle, Mondelez and Tata Consumer, have come together with the government to convert millions of neighbourhood kirana stores into sanitised retail outlets selling daily essentials.
These kiranas will be called Suraksha Stores and registered on the government’s Aarogya Setu app. The companies will help the kirana staff implement safety norms such as social distancing and sanitisation, and also supply them sanitisers, masks and gloves.
The government is targeting to bring 1 million stores under this category within 45 days. As of Tuesday night, consumer goods companies have adopted 1 lakh outlets.
Consumer affairs ministry secretary Pawan Agarwal confirmed the move. “This voluntary effort is a welcome development. Presently, on a pilot basis, 12 companies have taken this forward and over a lakh outlets have already been registered,” Agarwal told ET.
The group of companies, which currently also includes Marico, Johnson & Johnson, Godrej and Colgate Palmolive, is called the Coalition of Responsible Enterprises (CoRE) against Covid. The programme has so far generated interest from more than 75 companies.
“As an industry, we will scale the initiative across the entire supply chain, community and consumer-facing last-mile delivery, besides following robust certified training processes, to contain the spread of Covid-19,” P&G India chief executive Madhusudan Gopalan said, while addressing a videoconference that was attended among others by government officials.
An HUL spokesperson said the company was implementing it in the states allotted to it through its “network of distributor salesmen”, while a spokesperson for hotels-to-consumer-goods group ITC said it was happy to participate in the programme.
Dabur India CEO Mohit Malhotra said the maker of Real juices and Vatika shampoo had initiated the process of reaching out to the retail outlets and would ensure that each retail store complied with a health and safety checklist. “This is a pathbreaking initiative by the consumer affairs ministry to convert the neighbourhood kirana stores into sanitised retail outlets selling daily essentials. We are also extending this to cover Ayurveda outlets across India,” Malhotra said.
The second phase of the exercise, the Suraksha Circle, will cover the entire supply chain of companies.
Some cash-and-carry companies are also involved.
Metro Cash & Carry India managing director Arvind Mediratta said: “The programme involves companies in the ecosystem helping to create safe places to shop. Apart from the other protocols, this includes waste bins outside stores for disposal of masks and tissues.”
A spokesperson for Walmart India said the company was keen to participate in the programme within the guidelines of foreign direct investment rules for cash and carry companies.
The FMCG companies have been assigned states. The protocols include maintaining social distancing of 1.5 metres outside the shops as well as billing counters, ensuring use of sanitisers or hand wash by consumers before entering the shops, provision of masks to all staff and sanitisation of high-contact areas at least twice a day.
Consumer goods companies adopt 1 lakh Suraksha Stores
By RATNA BHUSHAN & RASUL BAILAY
ET Bureau | Updated: Apr 16, 2020, 09.14 AM IST
These kiranas will be called Suraksha Stores and registered on the government’s Aarogya Setu app.
New Delhi: India’s biggest consumer goods companies, including Procter & Gamble, ITC, Dabur, Hindustan Unilever, Britannia, Nestle, Mondelez and Tata Consumer, have come together with the government to convert millions of neighbourhood kirana stores into sanitised retail outlets selling daily essentials.
These kiranas will be called Suraksha Stores and registered on the government’s Aarogya Setu app. The companies will help the kirana staff implement safety norms such as social distancing and sanitisation, and also supply them sanitisers, masks and gloves.
The government is targeting to bring 1 million stores under this category within 45 days. As of Tuesday night, consumer goods companies have adopted 1 lakh outlets.
Consumer affairs ministry secretary Pawan Agarwal confirmed the move. “This voluntary effort is a welcome development. Presently, on a pilot basis, 12 companies have taken this forward and over a lakh outlets have already been registered,” Agarwal told ET.
The group of companies, which currently also includes Marico, Johnson & Johnson, Godrej and Colgate Palmolive, is called the Coalition of Responsible Enterprises (CoRE) against Covid. The programme has so far generated interest from more than 75 companies.
“As an industry, we will scale the initiative across the entire supply chain, community and consumer-facing last-mile delivery, besides following robust certified training processes, to contain the spread of Covid-19,” P&G India chief executive Madhusudan Gopalan said, while addressing a videoconference that was attended among others by government officials.
An HUL spokesperson said the company was implementing it in the states allotted to it through its “network of distributor salesmen”, while a spokesperson for hotels-to-consumer-goods group ITC said it was happy to participate in the programme.
Dabur India CEO Mohit Malhotra said the maker of Real juices and Vatika shampoo had initiated the process of reaching out to the retail outlets and would ensure that each retail store complied with a health and safety checklist. “This is a pathbreaking initiative by the consumer affairs ministry to convert the neighbourhood kirana stores into sanitised retail outlets selling daily essentials. We are also extending this to cover Ayurveda outlets across India,” Malhotra said.
The second phase of the exercise, the Suraksha Circle, will cover the entire supply chain of companies.
Some cash-and-carry companies are also involved.
Metro Cash & Carry India managing director Arvind Mediratta said: “The programme involves companies in the ecosystem helping to create safe places to shop. Apart from the other protocols, this includes waste bins outside stores for disposal of masks and tissues.”
A spokesperson for Walmart India said the company was keen to participate in the programme within the guidelines of foreign direct investment rules for cash and carry companies.
The FMCG companies have been assigned states. The protocols include maintaining social distancing of 1.5 metres outside the shops as well as billing counters, ensuring use of sanitisers or hand wash by consumers before entering the shops, provision of masks to all staff and sanitisation of high-contact areas at least twice a day.
Consumer goods companies adopt 1 lakh Suraksha Stores
Karnataka is one of those states that needs to be split into North and South.
Those campaigns were when lives didn't matter, nobody bothered with China or other poor countries and death of millions. We too have had famines that killed millions and no revolt but today if in police action few farmer die whole state will be on boil for months. During wars hundreds of thousands get killed, USA got away with burning alive 2 cities full of civilians, today they are desperate to surender to Taliban because 15-20 American Soldiers die every year. Heck we 'postponed' retaliation of air strike inside India for One Pilot even when just few decades back we fought wars where tens of thousands got killed.
Historical facts maybe good for argument but may not have much standing in today's time.
Just few decades back China was piss poor, complete domination of CCP and people didn't care much as it was feeding their empty stomach, keeping them alive. Today's population is more literate, more informed, more connected, even when internet is censored they do go outside for tourism, for studies, meet with outsiders visiting China and connected among each other. Informed/connected citizenry is dangerous to authoritarian regimes. I have seen Arab Spring unfolded from day one, it didn't expand to Saudi Arabia or UAE not because people fear death but because Saudi regime is providing them food, keeping them safe however dictators in North African countries were oppressors and public killed them.
Citizens are ready to sacrifice some of their liberty and rights if state is keeping them well and safe. It's a carefully balanced trade between state and it's subject. Once due to sanctions and worlds reaction to China that invective is gone China will face resistance from inside. Combine this with massive misinformation, financial capabilities of West in fomenting trouble China will struggle. If they choose the path of suppressing it via force it will only grow bigger and could lead to fall if interested parties participate.
China could be made to fall on the knees. Today due to its sheer size, many people behave like defatists as if China could do anything they want and the world will just surrender. Only weak minds & nations think like that. We have to remember that everything is made like a house of cards. Their just has to be one weak link and everything will come crumbling down.
In India, we have to pound this opportunity to hurt China as much as we can. Remember, China is the source of all terror in India. If it wasn't for their direct support of Pakistan, that country would be incapable to fund its jihad against India. China has its direct hands in Naxalism & North east militancy.
India can start this covert war by changing it business/land/labor laws which promote setting up industries by investors. The West & Japan just need an alternative, if we can truly be the alternative to China, they will come flocking to us. This will in trun hurt China & decrease their economic power. Decreased economic power means more disgruntled citizens & less powerful CCP to keep them in check.
Govt lifts curbs on exports of formulations made from Paracetamol
Covid-19: India sends huge quantities of HCQ, paracetamol to over 100 countries, says report
India has exported 8.5 crore HCQ tablets and 50 crore Paracetamol tablets already.. Looks like GOI is increasingly confident that Coronavirus will be tamed...
Covid-19: India sends huge quantities of HCQ, paracetamol to over 100 countries, says report
India has exported 8.5 crore HCQ tablets and 50 crore Paracetamol tablets already.. Looks like GOI is increasingly confident that Coronavirus will be tamed...
Guess Kappuswamy's prospective DiL was heavily pregnant & expected to deliver anytime. Can't explain this haste any other way.
India begins controlled trials of plasma therapy
Trials using the antibody-rich blood of patients cured of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) have begun, with doctors turning to a pool of 1,600 people in India who have recovered from the infection to test their antibodies as a potential cure for those fighting the disease.
Updated: Apr 17, 2020 03:32 IST
By Anonna Dutt
Hindustan Times, New Delhi
A device being used for plasma therapy to treat other patients with coronavirus.(Reuters file photo)
Trials using the antibody-rich blood of patients cured of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) have begun, with doctors turning to a pool of 1,600 people in India who have recovered from the infection to test their antibodies as a potential cure for those fighting the disease.
Convalescent plasma therapy uses a blood component called plasma -- which contains the virus-fighting antibodies – from people who have recovered from the infection to treat those who are severely ill with Covid-19.
Apart from the Indian Council of Medical Research – India’s apex health research body – at least two hospitals have applied to test the effectiveness of the therapy in Delhi, the protocols for which have been established .
The Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences, an autonomous Delhi government hospital, has already received approval to conduct the trials. The private Max Hospital is awaiting approval to launch the trials.
“As the same product will be tested across the centres, the approvals are being given to hospitals that conform with the ICMR protocols so that uniform and comparable data is generated from across centres,” said an official from the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO), the apex drug regulator.
When the virus enters the human body, the immune system creates an antibody to fight it. This antibody remains in a person even after the virus has cleared out of their system. In the absence of other drugs, experts say that using these antibodies from recovered patients can offer a reprieve to severely ill Covid-19 patients.
“Now, there are over 1,000 people who have recovered from Covid-19 in the country and their blood plasma can be used to treat those who are critical. The antibodies from the recovered person will theoretically help the critical patients in fighting the infection. This is done for other viral illnesses as well,” said Dr SK Sarin, director of the Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences
The therapy would be given only to patients in a critical condition -- those with a respiratory rate higher than 30 breaths per minute (the normal is 18-20 breaths per minute), have oxygen saturation of less than 90% (normal is 95 to 100%), or have infiltrates like pus in the lungs.
As for donors, only health individuals – with no comorbidities like diabetes, hypertension, or heart disease and less than 60 years of age – who have recovered from the infection would be selected.
“There are anecdotal evidences to say that Covid-19 patients on plasma therapy have recovered in other countries. However, we need to ensure that the therapy is given to people who are at high risk before they are on a ventilator. This is because the antibodies can prevent the progression of the disease by reducing the viral load, it cannot heal the lungs and the other organs. So, if a person already has lung damage and is in multi-organ failure then the therapy will not be useful,” said Dr Shobha Broor, former head of the department of microbiology at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences.
For the treatment, a plasmapheresis machine is used to derive plasma from the blood, which is then administered to the patients with severe infection. This method is, however, not new and is used for the treatment of several other diseases.
And experts feel that not giving the treatment to half the patients under randomised control trial is unethical. “Plasma therapy is already being used for three categories of ailments – one is viral infection such as hepatitis or even chicken pox that can be severe in immuno-compromised patients; two, it is done for autoimmune disorders, and three, conditions like haemophilia in which the people receive proteins other than antibodies – like factor 8 in this case – through plasma therapy,” said Dr T Jacob John, professor emeritus and former head of the department of virology at Christian Medical College, Vellore.
“When it is an already established procedure, why should it not be administered to all the patients who are very sick?. Not giving it to half the patients in need is actually an ethical problem, I feel,” he said.
In a randomised control trial, which is suggested by the ICMR, half the patients receive the plasma and the other half receive a placebo. This helps the doctors in determining whether people on therapy do better than those not on it.
A recently published report on a trial in China showed an improvement in the clinical conditions of 10 people who received the therapy. “All symptoms in the 10 patients, especially fever, cough, shortness of breath, and chest pain, disappeared or largely improved within 1 day to 3 day upon Convalescent Plasma transfusion,” the study published in PNAS Journal said.
India begins controlled trials of plasma therapy
Trials using the antibody-rich blood of patients cured of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) have begun, with doctors turning to a pool of 1,600 people in India who have recovered from the infection to test their antibodies as a potential cure for those fighting the disease.
Updated: Apr 17, 2020 03:32 IST
By Anonna Dutt
Hindustan Times, New Delhi
A device being used for plasma therapy to treat other patients with coronavirus.(Reuters file photo)
Trials using the antibody-rich blood of patients cured of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) have begun, with doctors turning to a pool of 1,600 people in India who have recovered from the infection to test their antibodies as a potential cure for those fighting the disease.
Convalescent plasma therapy uses a blood component called plasma -- which contains the virus-fighting antibodies – from people who have recovered from the infection to treat those who are severely ill with Covid-19.
Apart from the Indian Council of Medical Research – India’s apex health research body – at least two hospitals have applied to test the effectiveness of the therapy in Delhi, the protocols for which have been established .
The Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences, an autonomous Delhi government hospital, has already received approval to conduct the trials. The private Max Hospital is awaiting approval to launch the trials.
“As the same product will be tested across the centres, the approvals are being given to hospitals that conform with the ICMR protocols so that uniform and comparable data is generated from across centres,” said an official from the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO), the apex drug regulator.
When the virus enters the human body, the immune system creates an antibody to fight it. This antibody remains in a person even after the virus has cleared out of their system. In the absence of other drugs, experts say that using these antibodies from recovered patients can offer a reprieve to severely ill Covid-19 patients.
“Now, there are over 1,000 people who have recovered from Covid-19 in the country and their blood plasma can be used to treat those who are critical. The antibodies from the recovered person will theoretically help the critical patients in fighting the infection. This is done for other viral illnesses as well,” said Dr SK Sarin, director of the Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences
The therapy would be given only to patients in a critical condition -- those with a respiratory rate higher than 30 breaths per minute (the normal is 18-20 breaths per minute), have oxygen saturation of less than 90% (normal is 95 to 100%), or have infiltrates like pus in the lungs.
As for donors, only health individuals – with no comorbidities like diabetes, hypertension, or heart disease and less than 60 years of age – who have recovered from the infection would be selected.
“There are anecdotal evidences to say that Covid-19 patients on plasma therapy have recovered in other countries. However, we need to ensure that the therapy is given to people who are at high risk before they are on a ventilator. This is because the antibodies can prevent the progression of the disease by reducing the viral load, it cannot heal the lungs and the other organs. So, if a person already has lung damage and is in multi-organ failure then the therapy will not be useful,” said Dr Shobha Broor, former head of the department of microbiology at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences.
For the treatment, a plasmapheresis machine is used to derive plasma from the blood, which is then administered to the patients with severe infection. This method is, however, not new and is used for the treatment of several other diseases.
And experts feel that not giving the treatment to half the patients under randomised control trial is unethical. “Plasma therapy is already being used for three categories of ailments – one is viral infection such as hepatitis or even chicken pox that can be severe in immuno-compromised patients; two, it is done for autoimmune disorders, and three, conditions like haemophilia in which the people receive proteins other than antibodies – like factor 8 in this case – through plasma therapy,” said Dr T Jacob John, professor emeritus and former head of the department of virology at Christian Medical College, Vellore.
“When it is an already established procedure, why should it not be administered to all the patients who are very sick?. Not giving it to half the patients in need is actually an ethical problem, I feel,” he said.
In a randomised control trial, which is suggested by the ICMR, half the patients receive the plasma and the other half receive a placebo. This helps the doctors in determining whether people on therapy do better than those not on it.
A recently published report on a trial in China showed an improvement in the clinical conditions of 10 people who received the therapy. “All symptoms in the 10 patients, especially fever, cough, shortness of breath, and chest pain, disappeared or largely improved within 1 day to 3 day upon Convalescent Plasma transfusion,” the study published in PNAS Journal said.
India begins controlled trials of plasma therapy
Indian companies dazzle the world with anti-Covid products
By M Ramesh
Chennai | Updated onApril 17, 2020Published onApril 17, 2020
‘China gives virus, India gives the cure’ goes a nationalistic riff doing the rounds on social media – a reference to demand for made-in-India hydrochloroquine (HCQ) from several countries, including the US and Pakistan.
Well, the wisecrack might just as well be spoken a bit louder, because the global demand is not only for HCQ but a bouquet of other counter-Covid-19 products as well.
Soaring demand
From face shields to masks to PPE products to isolation chambers, the world is knocking at the doors of Indian companies for supplies. Oddly enough, the companies that are making these products have got into this business only weeks, if not days, ago.
For example, a Belgaum-based company called Vega Aviation has been in the business of making products such as packing cases, wastebins, mobile toilets, security cabins and home food delivery boxes with fibre-reinforced polymers and composites.
With technology from the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), the company has just begun manufacturing kiosks for sample collection from Covid-19 suspects. These kiosks are small chambers, like telephone booths, where the patient is inside but the doctor (or the clinician) is outside. The doctor collects blood samples by putting his hands in through fixed rubber gloves. One such kiosk costs about ₹1 lakh. Vega has the capacity to manufacture ten a day. Its Director Suhas Chandak says the idea is to ramp up production to at least 25 a day.
As soon as the market learned Vega was going to make these products, Chandak started getting calls from representatives of companies based in the US and West Asia, placing orders for the product. An overwhelmed Chandak told BusinessLine that Vega was thinking of increasing capacity to 60 a day. “But my priority is India,” he said.
Isolation chambers
Pune-based Raksha Polycoats also got into anti-Covid-19 business very recently. The company has been making various products for Defence and ISRO, but has just begun making isolation chambers for Covid-19 patients. Raksha Polycoats has capacity to make 500 shelters a month.
The company’s Managing Director, Abhijit Sarkar, told BusinessLine that he had received several enquiries from abroad.
A Hyderabad-based company called iMake, which is into rapid prototyping and 3D printing, also said it was getting enquiries from US companies for ‘full face shields’.
Mayank Dwivedi, Director, Directorate of Industry Interface and Technology Management, DRDO, told BusinessLine that these products would have a large and sustained demand from abroad even after the Covid-19 episode ends.
Ventilators
Asked if ventilators could be exported too, Dwivedi said DRDO, working with its industry partners, had developed various components for ventilators. For the immediate needs of the country, 30,000 units will be manufactured by Bharat Electronics Ltd.
Transfer of technology for other companies will happen later, because unlike for other products such as face shields, sanitizers and isolation chambers, ventilators is an extremely hi-tech item. Transfer of this technology is a longer process and it would be done in course of time. If there is overseas demand for ventilators, Indian industry will have a play.
Indian companies dazzle the world with anti-Covid products
By M Ramesh
Chennai | Updated onApril 17, 2020Published onApril 17, 2020
‘China gives virus, India gives the cure’ goes a nationalistic riff doing the rounds on social media – a reference to demand for made-in-India hydrochloroquine (HCQ) from several countries, including the US and Pakistan.
Well, the wisecrack might just as well be spoken a bit louder, because the global demand is not only for HCQ but a bouquet of other counter-Covid-19 products as well.
Soaring demand
From face shields to masks to PPE products to isolation chambers, the world is knocking at the doors of Indian companies for supplies. Oddly enough, the companies that are making these products have got into this business only weeks, if not days, ago.
For example, a Belgaum-based company called Vega Aviation has been in the business of making products such as packing cases, wastebins, mobile toilets, security cabins and home food delivery boxes with fibre-reinforced polymers and composites.
With technology from the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), the company has just begun manufacturing kiosks for sample collection from Covid-19 suspects. These kiosks are small chambers, like telephone booths, where the patient is inside but the doctor (or the clinician) is outside. The doctor collects blood samples by putting his hands in through fixed rubber gloves. One such kiosk costs about ₹1 lakh. Vega has the capacity to manufacture ten a day. Its Director Suhas Chandak says the idea is to ramp up production to at least 25 a day.
As soon as the market learned Vega was going to make these products, Chandak started getting calls from representatives of companies based in the US and West Asia, placing orders for the product. An overwhelmed Chandak told BusinessLine that Vega was thinking of increasing capacity to 60 a day. “But my priority is India,” he said.
Isolation chambers
Pune-based Raksha Polycoats also got into anti-Covid-19 business very recently. The company has been making various products for Defence and ISRO, but has just begun making isolation chambers for Covid-19 patients. Raksha Polycoats has capacity to make 500 shelters a month.
The company’s Managing Director, Abhijit Sarkar, told BusinessLine that he had received several enquiries from abroad.
A Hyderabad-based company called iMake, which is into rapid prototyping and 3D printing, also said it was getting enquiries from US companies for ‘full face shields’.
Mayank Dwivedi, Director, Directorate of Industry Interface and Technology Management, DRDO, told BusinessLine that these products would have a large and sustained demand from abroad even after the Covid-19 episode ends.
Ventilators
Asked if ventilators could be exported too, Dwivedi said DRDO, working with its industry partners, had developed various components for ventilators. For the immediate needs of the country, 30,000 units will be manufactured by Bharat Electronics Ltd.
Transfer of technology for other companies will happen later, because unlike for other products such as face shields, sanitizers and isolation chambers, ventilators is an extremely hi-tech item. Transfer of this technology is a longer process and it would be done in course of time. If there is overseas demand for ventilators, Indian industry will have a play.
Indian companies dazzle the world with anti-Covid products
Chinese investment in India being scrutinized now by government.
Finally some sense prevailed......☺
Finally some sense prevailed......☺