How this Jammu startup is fighting the coronavirus pandemic with its cost-effective healthcare solutions

The Indian startup ecosystem is trying its best to combat the coronavirus pandemic through innovations. As several organisations come up with technological developments such as prescreening, testing, ventilation, and disinfecting tools to fight COVID-19, Jammu-headquartered SID07 Designs is aimed at keeping the healthcare professionals safe and comfortable in the gears to protect themselves from infection.

Founded in 2018 by Siddarth Gupta, SID07 Designs is aimed at building novel solutions in the form of physical and tangible products to solve the problem faced by people. 

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Speaking with YourStory, Siddarth says, “We identify issues faced by consumers and then come up with tangible solutions to address the gap. The reason behind launching this company and becoming an entrepreneur was to be able to innovate everyday and solve different challenges rather than just innovating once.” 

According to Siddarth, SID07 has till date made 11 inventions such as wheel assembly machine, drill duster, domestic vermi-composting bin, and reusable flat-folding collapsible cup among others. With the onset of coronavirus pandemic, Siddarth has come up with solutions to safeguard the frontline workers. Out of the 11 inventions, SIDO7 has granted patents for three products as the others are in the pipeline.

With products like vermi-composting bin and reusable flat-folding collapsible cup promoting green innovations, SID07 Design was also selected for participating in the pitch session of Virtual World IP Day conference on April 28.

COVisor and Mask Buddy

“Our first product is Mask Buddy, which is designed to help the emergency workers during this pandemic. It is a simple reusable plastic band, which takes away the load from the ears while wearing surgical or over-the-ear masks for a long period of time,” says Siddarth.

He explains that most ear elastic strings of masks tend to cause discomfort, ear ache, headache, and even pressure blisters on the back of the ears when worn for a long time by healthcare professionals.

The Mask Buddy is a reusable accessory, which removes the stress from the ears by clipping the elastic strings behind one’s head. The band needs to be sanitised using an alcohol-based sanitiser.

“While the solution in itself might not be first and unique, the newness lies in the way of its manufacturing as in the time of lockdown when sourcing materials are difficult, the band is being hand-cut and made out of file-folder plastics,” Siddarth adds. 

SID07 Design’s second COVID-19 product is COVisor, a reusable face shield with replaceable screens to protect the users from contracting the disease when they are in close proximity to infected people. It is aimed at helping the doctors avoid infection while treating the coronavirus patients.

Siddarth says, the COVisor comes with a durable frame and three replaceable transparent screens.

Cost-effective solution

The products are currently being shipped all across India and can be ordered from the official SID07 website. 

According to Siddarth, a pack of 10 Mask Buddies is available for Rs 207 while a pack of 30 will cost Rs 607. Meanwhile, one pack of COVisor, which comes with three replaceable transparent sheets and one Mask Buddy, is available for Rs 207 while a pack of 10 COVisors will cost Rs 1,870.  

“One transparent sheet used in COVisor will last for 7-8 days, following which users can buy extra transparent sheets from our website. A pack of 10 transparent sheets is priced at Rs 57,” Siddarth adds.

The protective gears, Siddarth says, are currently being used by the doctors at Government Medical College Hospital in Jammu and a few other nursing homes in Jammu.

“We are currently in talks with Apollo and Fortis Hospitals here as they are interested in our products. We also have sales personnel in Delhi who are reaching out to hospitals in the capital for deployment.”

Siddarth also says that both the Mask Buddy and COVisor are a part of the company’s ‘Hyper-Design Series’ under which the products were taken from prototype testing to production and were made available in the market within 48 hours.

Future plans

Siddarth explains that currently SID07 Designs works with manufacturing partners to get the products developed. However, now with 11 products out with granted patents and some more in the making, Siddarth plans to set up a manufacturing unit this year to ramp up the production.

“In order to set up the manufacturing unit, we need funds and thus we are looking to raise our seed or angel round of funding post the COVID-19 and lockdown situation,” Siddarth adds.

Apart from this, the company is also looking to have 100 inventions out in the market by 2021 out of which 11 has already been developed.