15 smart kiosks to be set up for COVID-19 testing

The State government in collaboration with Wipro GE Healthcare will set up 15 ‘smart kiosks’ across the State in the next few days for random population-based screening for COVID-19. The company’s initiative comes as part of its CSR efforts.

“Along with our ongoing measures, we are intensifying our efforts to test more people who may be potential or symptomatic cases of COVID-19. Effective partnership between the government and the industry is critical when dealing with challenges like the one we face today,” said Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa.

The smart kiosk consists of two enclosures, one for the person being tested and the other for the healthcare worker. The two are separated by a see-through, air-tight partition. Both enclosures have separate entries, lighting and ventilation arrangements, and speaker system for communication between the healthcare worker and the citizen. The partition wall has a pair of replaceable gloves and a sanitizing gel dispenser to enable safe sample collection.

Nalinikanth Gollagunta, Managing Director, Wipro GE Healthcare, said it was unfortunate that healthcare workers were getting infected while handling COVID-19 cases. “Our design team has created this smart kiosk which eliminates any contact between a suspected patient and the healthcare worker, thus reducing their chances of getting infected,” he said.

Testing for police officers

In another initiative, QuEST Global, a product engineering and lifecycle services firm, has partnered with the Bengaluru City Police to sponsor COVID-19 tests for more than 300 police officers in the city. The real-time PCR test for the frontline warriors will be done for 30 police personnel daily at Vydehi Institute of Medical Sciences and Research Centre, Whitefield. Police officers from eight stations across the Bellandur - Marathahalli - Whitefield belt will be tested.