Webinar on June 1st by Department of Textiles and Apparel Designing

• Safety First: Use of Personal Protective Clothing In Fight Against Pandemic Department of Textiles & Apparel Designing

Moderator of Panel discussion: Dr. Suman Mundkur

Program Flyer

Dr. Suman Mundkur Moderating the session

Mrs. Anju Tulshyan Presenting on the Topic :Covid & Consumer Post Lock Down

Q&A session in Progress with all the panelist

The webinar titled Safety First: Use of Use of Personal Protective Clothing in Fight Against Pandemic was held on 1^st June, 2020. This was part of webinar series on ‘You, Me and Covid 19 – Let’s Tackle it Together’ was held between 26^th May, 2020 to 4^th June, 2020 organised by IQAC committee of Sir Vithaldas Thackersey college of Home Science (Autonomous), SNDT Women’s University. A panel of 6 speakers shared their expertise on Protective Clothing.

The first panellist was Dr. Armaiti Shukla, Associate Professor and Head of Department Textile and Apparel Designing at Sir Vithaldas Thackersey college of Home Science. She initiated the series of webinar with a focus of outreach to the community at large. She has 32 years of teaching experience both at the undergraduate and post-graduate level. She spoke about “Journey of personal protective clothing in fight against pandemic over the decades”. Dr. Armaiti Shukla first spoke about the two theories of how disease was spread and contracted which are – The four humors theory by Hippocrates and The Miasma theory.  She gave a brief on what is personal protective clothing. She also explained about the protective gears and clothing people used back in the days i.e. During Bubonic plague (1656), The Pneumonic plague (1910-11), The Flu Pandemic (1918), etc. She discussed about evolution towards N 95 mask and contribution of Sara Little Turnbull in the development of it. Her talk covered William Stewart Halsted who was responsible for origination of Rubber gloves, its evolution and difference between Latex and Nitrile gloves. She concluded by saying, “The textile and garment industry has been with us through all the pandemics and crisis that we have faced and holds our hand in this pandemic also.”

The second speaker on the panel, Dr. Hemant Bhansali who is a Ph.D in Laparoscopic surgery,  Director of Ethical Institute of Surgical Education. He is associated as an Advisor with IIT Mumbai in the BETIC program for  innovation and instrumentation and has dedicated his 39 years of professional life to research, development and commerce in the healthcare industry. He spoke about, “Surgical and medical aspect of wearing personal protective clothing”. He gave a brief explanation on what is a virus before proceeding with the need of protective gowns.  He explained about various criteria in the selection of materials and ideal properties that they possess. Dr. Hemant mentioned that wet penetration test is a more reliable means of differentiating between barrier materials than dry testing including air permeability or filtration evaluation. He provided detailed information on the barrier resistance and factors affecting it. Later he also explained about the problems involved in the use of cotton, linen, and old method of sterilization. He said, “The Standard Test Methods for resistance of materials, surgical drapes must be considered as seperate items of protecting clothing; which is an issue itself.” He also addressed few new questions like, “How vital is the need for both gown and drape?” and some important questions like, “Are surgical drapes and gowns effective in today’s Covid 19 Era?”. To answer this, he said it will only prevent viruses in the droplets of mucous or fluid and not in the dry air.

The third panelist was Mr. Gaurav Parmar who is a manufacturer of PPE. He is the Director of Orgro fibre LLP, Vadodara. He is also the Trustee of Deep Charitable Trust and Siddhant Seva Trust at Vadodara. He has worked with many renowned institutes like OXFAM, SAP India and others and has 11 years of experience in managing various social projects. Mr. Parmar is the Director and Founder member of Foundation for Social and Health Development. He also owns a patent for fabric made from agro waste. He spoke about, “Use of personal protective clothing in fight against this pandemic”. He started by giving a brief information on what is personal protective equipment. He also mentioned that before buying a surgical mask one must check if it is 3 layered which provided minimum 80% protection. He also stated that the Hazmat PPE suit is best for protection against this pandemic. He also gave some advice on types on face cover available in the market and the materials used for the manufacturing of masks and cover–all.  He also mentioned about precautionary measures to keep in mind while manufacturing PPE. Like selection of good quality zip, good quality nylon thread, high adhesive hot or cold sealing tape to cover seams, etc. Mr. Parmar spoke about authentication from Testing Agencies.  Most importantly he spoke about identification of quality of PPE and manufacturing cost involved in production of PPE

The next panellist was Dr. Mrinal R. Choudhari shared her views on Quality parameters for personal protection clothing and equipment. Dr. Choudhari is the Joint Director of WRA (Wool Research Association). She holds a Ph.D in Chemical Technology-Textile Chemistry from ICT. She has 16 years of work experience in research including 8 years with Rossari Biotech. She started her discussion by giving brief information about ‘Protective Textiles’ as a part of Technical Textiles and further spoke about Medical protective textiles and their classification. She spoke about market share of protective textiles, clothing and their manufacturing process in detail. “Non-woven are important material used in protective textile equipment”, she further said. Later she continued by talking about chemical finishing like plasma treatment that can provide a good barrier against blood, water and even microbes. This makes it a better finish for surgical gowns. Further, she stated that fabrics can be treated with antimicrobial and fluorochemicals to be used for functional surgical gowns. She further spoke about protective textiles made from woven fabric which are reusable. She then gave a gist on masks and uses. She then shared about tests and equipment used to measure parameters of protective textile like Moisture Measurement Tester, Water vapour transmission rate tester, Sweating guarded hotplate, and many more.

The fifth panellist was Mrs. Vidya Thakur who shared her expertise on, “Use, Reuse and Disposal of personal protective gears”. Mrs. Thakur is Deputy Controller of Examinations and Assistant Professor for 22 years at Sir Vithaldas Thackersey College of Home Science. Although Costumes, Art and Craft are her speciality, she is passionate about Environment concerns. She spoke about how improperly disposed masks are a threat to everybody and especially sanitization workers. She gave examples of some of the malpractices in disposal which are due to the lack awareness and sheer negligence of citizens. She further spoke about important precautions for handmade masks. They are: 1. Never reuse a mask without cleaning it, 2. Cloth mask should be washed properly and frequently and left to hang and air dry, 3. Do not leave face masks on any surface as it will be source of infection. She then spoke about storage of homemade or stitched mask. She cautioned on the disposal of disposable mask used by non-infected person. She further shared WHO, Health Ministry and BMC guidelines on the disposal of used masks. Mrs. Thakur also mentioned that the persons who are not suffering from any medical conditions or have trouble breathing can use the hand made reusable masks but the persons who are front line health workers, COVID 19 patients,  this is not recommended. Later she mentioned few steps to dispose used PPE gloves as well.

The last speaker on the panel was Mrs. Anju Tulshyan. She is an Associate Professor, Textile and Apparel Designing at Sir Vithaldas Thackersey College of Home Science with 24 years of experience in teaching and research. She shared her expertise on, “What change can we expect as a consumer while buying protective clothing or while buying clothing to protect ourselves”. Ms. Anju stated that as anticipated by CMAI and RAI, it will take over a year for the clothing industry to recover back from the loss caused due to lockdown during Covid 19. She shared her views on how the new shopping environment will be post-lockdown. First, there will be thermal screening points for both consumers and employees at entry points, wearing gloves and mask will be mandatory, Cubical/ tunnel sanitizastion at entry points and social distancing measures will be enforced. We can hope for more cashless payment stores, cashier less payments, Augmented reality instead of trial rooms, etc. She then spoke about revenge buying that has been noticed in few countries after lockdown was lifted and ‘Lipstick effect’ was foreseen. Mrs. Tulshiayan shared some strategies to reduce the traffic in store like altering store hours, shopping by appointment, E-Commerce, omnichannel strategy, etc. More functional finishes on apparel may be on demand from consumers. The sales has risen of kids wear and infant wear has gone up and so has lingerie, sportswear, sleepwear and home textiles. To engage with the consumers, brands are playing with lot of strategies to attract consumers through giveaways, donating for the crisis and highlighting the importance of family tine, and engaging with the consumers. In the end she concluded that innovations and safety will go hand in hand to meet the needs of the consumers.

The panel discussion ended with questions from the audience which were answered gracefully by all the speakers. The vote of thanks was proposed by the Moderator, Dr. Suman Mundkur, Retired Faculty, Department of Textiles and Apparel Designing. The webinar was indeed informative, interesting and an amazing learning experience for everyone.

Resource persons CV

1.Dr. Bhansali Hemant S

 E-Mail:  drhemantbhansali@gmail.com

MS;FCPS;FICS;FACG(us);PhD(Lap Surg);LLB(Mum)

Profile:

An enthusiastic Surgeon, with strong analytical, interpersonal, research and teaching skills. One of the early pioneers in development of laparoscopic surgery in India. Strong interest in establishing training centre for laparoscopic surgery at ‘Ethicon Institute of surgical education’ (Johnson and Johnson,) Mumbai and initiating the technique in various medical colleges and hospitals across the country .

Awarded PhD in Laparoscopic Surgery from MUHS, Nashik. In PhD., strong interests lie in establishing laparoscopic knotting, suturing techniques and development of clamp. Future plans are development of volumetric insufflator for making laparoscopic surgery safe, Automation in laparoscopic Surgery by innovating Indian Robotic Grasper, incorporate nanotechnology with laparoscopic surgery and use my experiences to contribute to the area of research, development and commerce in healthcare industry.

 Working as Programme Director for Fellowship courses in MAS for Maharashtra University of Health Sciences, Nashik to promote Higher Fellowship Education among students.

Associated with BETIC, a programme of IIT, Mumbai for Innovation in Instrumentation for IITians. Pursued studies in Law of Mumbai University and completed LLB. An avid artist with Oil Painting Exhibitions in Nehru Art Centre, Mumbai and various ART Galleries. (cover up in Mumbai Mid-Day and Celebrity Magazine, Gujrat Samachar ,Ravipurti)Associated and working for Tribal Medicine .

Summary:

• One of the Pioneers of Laparoscopic Surgery in India with More than 30 years of experience in Laparoscopic Surgery and 39 years in Surgery.
• First PhD in Laparoscopic Surgery in India
• Owns Patents in Instruments used in laparoscopic Surgery
• Recipients of awards from Ethicon ,Wattumall Foundation , Brahmakumari and many more

2.Mr. Gaurav Parmar-BA, MSW, Director Orgro Fibre LLP have 11 plus years of experience to manage  various social projects. After completing graduation he worked with renowned Institution like IIMA, EU, Oxfam, VSO, SAP India, in year 2019 Gaurav innovated single use plastic bag substitute  and own patent of agro waste made fabric. Guarav also developed India 95 Mask which is supported under GTU start up grant. At present Gaurav manufacture PPE Kits, Surgical masks.

Gaurav Parmar- is trustee and Founding member

• Orgro Fibre LLP-Director
• Deep Charitable Trust-Vadodara-Trustee
• Siddharth Seva Trust-Vadodara-Trustee
• Foundation For Social And Health Development Director and Founding member

3.Dr. Mrinal Rajesh Choudhari, Joint Director , Wool Research Association, Thane

 Educational Details

• Ph.D. Tech. from UDCT- currently known as ICT  in Chemical Technology- Textile Chemistry in year – 2004- (First Class with Distinction)
•  M. Sc.  Tech.  from UDCT- currently known as ICT  in Chemical Technology- Textile Chemistry in year – 1999- (First Class with Distinction)
• B.Sc. Tech.  from UDCT- currently known as ICT  in Chemical Technology- Textile Chemistry in year – 1996- (First Class with Distinction)
• Completed Diploma in Business Management (DBM) –in year 1998 from Welingkar Institute of Management Devel. & Res., Matunga,

Professional Career

• Currently working at  Wool Research Association as a Joint  Director since 2012
• Worked with Rossari Biotech as a Manager R & D since July 2004 till Feb 2012

Publications

• Written more than 50 review technical articles
• Contributed  Online chapter to E-book

Visiting Lecturer

• Has visited various Textile Technology and Engineering colleges all over India for lectures

External Examiner and Paper Setter

• For B. Sc Tech, Master’s and Doctorate students for ICT ( Formerly known as UDCT), VJTI, DKTE- Ichalkaranji

Seminars and conferences

• Excellent Communications Skill
• Excellent Presentation Skills
• Eminent speaker who has attended numerous seminars and conferences all over India

Hobbies

• Reading Philosophy and Physical fitness activities

• Participants

Participants’ demographics: Total number:

Local participants: (From Mumbai)

State level participants: (From Maharashtra, excluding Mumbai)

National level participants: (From other states of India)

International level participants: (From outside India)

Sir Vithaldas Thackersey College of Home Science (Autonomus)

S.N.D.T. Women’s University, Juhu Mumbai

Day : Six

Time:  From 11.00 a.m.  to 1.00 p.m.

Date: 1^st June 2020

Topic: Safety First: Use of Personal Protective Clothing In Fight Against Pandemic

Resource Persons:

1. Armaiti Shukla, (Head: Dept of Textiles and Apparel Designing, SVT College of Home Science)
2. Hemant Bhansali, (MS;FCPS;FICS;FACG(US);PhD (Laproscopy. Surgery)
3. Gaurav Parmar, (Orgro Fibre LLP-Director, Vadodara, Gujarat)
4. Mrinal Choudhari, (Joint Director, Wool Research Association, Thane)
5. Vidya Thakur, (Associate Professor, Dept of Textiles and Apparel Designing, SVT College of Home Science)
6. Anju Tulshyan, (Associate Professor, Dept of Textiles and Apparel Designing, SVT College of Home Science)