RE: INDIA ROLLOUT FACE MASKS8 Sep 2021 12:00
Dr Gareth Cave, chief scientific officer at Pharm2Farm and the nanotechnology expert who developed the patented technology and designed the face masks, said: "We wanted to make the masks available in the UK at the end of last year, but then the Delta variant began to spread which a lot of people think has come from India.
"It's driven the demand for PPE in India right up. I have three PhD students from India who have seen what is happening over there and know what we have been working on in Nottingham.
"The students helped put us in touch with a number of Indian councillors and we opened a dialogue about getting the PPE over there.
"We ended up being put in touch with Vivek Kohli, chair VKE Enterprises, who has lots of connections across India. He helped us get the masks into India as soon as possible.
"During the pandemic, he set up a company to manufacture oxygen generators and he has been working with Amazon India so we can distribute the masks more easily.
"I was not aware of the amount of poor quality PPE that is circulating in India before I got involved here. There are lots of stories of people washing disposable masks, recycling them, and even some of people picking them off the floor because of desperation.
"It was a moral response from us to make our masks available over there.
"With typical 3 Ply (blue) masks in India, the density of each of its layers is about 18 grams per square metre. The masks in the UK are around 35 grams per square metre so they are nearly twice as thick. The level of protection is much greater.
"We could have made them cheaper in India by producing them out there but we didn't want to compromise the quality of the masks which are made here. That's what our partners in India wanted, not to keep our masks as a luxury brand but to ensure they are still highly effective.
"The price is a little more expensive, but you can't put a price on safety."
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