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Journalism of Courage
What they described as a ‘humble initiative’ to fill up a bottle at their college’s entrance, is now a ‘viral’ public demand — an exercise keeping the students and faculty of Nagaland’s Kohima Science College on their toes all day.
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It was then that Chemistry department faculty member Dr Tiakaba Jamir had a brainwave. “It was a small, humble initiative. To fill up a bottle or two, at the college’s biometric facility for our students and faculty to use,” he said. Following specifications set by the World Health Organisation (WHO), Jamir and his students made a “successful first batch”, and decided to donate a few bottles to offices nearby, as a goodwill gesture.
However, when someone posted about it on social media, the news of their experiment went viral. Suddenly, the college had calls from across Kohima. “All the departments met and we decided we needed to help out. We began distributing, as far as possible, to schools, colleges, offices — including offices of the police and Deputy Commissioner’s,” said Dr Lily Sema, Principal, Kohima Science College.
On Tuesday, Naga Hospital Authority, Kohima received 15 litres of sanitiser from the college. Dr Thorhusie Katiry, Managing Director of the hospital, said that it was a “thoughtful action” during such a crisis.
The college has produced 130 litres of sanitiser so far.“We have followed the WHO guidelines,” said Jamir, adding that the sanitiser comprises isopropyl alcohol, hydrogen peroxide along with glycerin, extracted aloevera and distilled water.
While according to the US Centers for Disease Control, washing hands with soap and water remains the first, basic step, hand sanitisers, with alcohol content more than 60 per cent, are effective, too.
Read | Coronavirus outbreak: Assam schools, colleges, universities shut till March 29, exams postponed
In Nagaon, a town in middle Assam, another chemistry laboratory in another college, is using the same ingredients, with a little variation. “In a sanitiser, the main ingredient is alcohol. We use a little glycerine as softening agent, and less than one per cent of Hydrogen Peroxide to avoid secondary infections,” explained Parikshit Gogoi, a Chemistry teacher in Nowgong College. Since Tuesday, a 10-member team, comprising faculty members and research scholars, has been making their own bottles, and distributing to the public for free. “A local TV channel reported that we were doing this, after that we had people coming in and requesting us. We decided to do something about it because it is close to impossible to find sanitisers in the market now,” he said.
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The Northeastern states have not reported a COVID-19 positive case so far. However, the vigil is up across the region – borders are sealed, and states like Nagaland, Arunahcal Pradesh and Sikkim, have even suspended domestic tourist entry.
On Wednesday, many other colleges in Nagaland have followed suit — as Government Polytechnic, Seithekema in Dimapur, Model Christian College in Kohima and Fazl Ali College in Mokukchong started making their own sanitisers too. “The product we have prepared is being packaged in recycled cosmetic dispensers collected from the college fraternity. We sterilise it and then distribute free of cost to the District administration, religious places and hospitals. In the coming days, we will distribute to banks, commercial transport counters, commercial vendors and traffic police personnel in the coming days.” said P Tiatemsu, Department of Botany, Fazl Ali College.
However, some colleges find that the raw materials, especially alcohol, is proving to be very hard to source. “We bought whatever we could from the pharmacy but for mass production, you need larger quantities,” said Gogoi. Added a student from Kohima Science College,Yinjun Naam, “Making it is not a big deal. As chemistry students, we all know how to. But the raw materials are the problem,” he said.
In Jorhat’s Assam Agricultural University, Dr S Baishya of the Biochemistry Department, agreed. “In our labs, we frequently disinfect surfaces with alcohol. However, to produce as per demands, we will need raw materials as well as manpower,” he said. On Tuesday, Ashok Bhattacharyya, Vice Chancellor-in charge, got in touch with the department. “I heard that many students on the campus could not find sanitisers — even big cities were running out of stock. That is why we decided to take this step,” he said. The university is bottling sanitisers and selling them at Rs 90 in the campus’s technology and information centre counter. The Jorhat district administration has reached out to them too.
Following reports of shortage and price surge of hand sanitisers, masks, the government Friday declared these items “essential commodities” until the end of June.
