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C-MET develops a low-cost indigenous prototype of polymer swab
April 7, 2020

A team of researchers has developed a low-cost indigenous prototype of polymer swab which can be used for collection of samples for coronavirus testing.

A scientist from the Pune-based Centre for Materials for Electronics Technology (C-MET) has developed a low-cost indigenous prototype of polymer swab. It can be used to collect the samples for coronavirus testing. If the product gets approved for production, the country will not need to depend on imported swabs.

The indigenous prototype of polymer swab is produced jointly by C-MET, which functions under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology; SRI Research for Tissue Engineering Private; Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru; Rangadore Hospital; and Additive Manufacturing Society of India.

India has been importing testing kits and polymer swabs primarily from Italy, Germany and the United States. Because of the import restrictions and international lockdown, a shortage of these kits might occur.

The polymer swab is used to collect a sample from the upper respiratory tract of a patient.

A specialty polymer from the polyester family and a rod made up of Polypropylene has been used to develop the prototype of the swab.