With the demand for handsanitizers rising in the wake of the coronavirus scare, a college in Kolkata has made a low-cost sanitiser meeting WHO guidelines.Till Wednesday the chemistry department of Surendranath College has made 40 bottles of hand sanitiser at one of its four laboratories, the head of the department, Harishankar Biswas, said on Friday. Five teachers, including the head of the department and three non-teaching staff, are involved in the making of hand sanitisers.Each bottle contains 100 ml sanitiser.We were happy with the result. 40 bottles of sanitisers are ready and we are producing more. The sanitiser is called Sparsho (touch) and the bottles will be distributed for free among the locals, the senior chemistry teacher said.According to Biswas, after the coronavirus scare struck everyone a few days ago, the people of the department went hunting for sanitisers for the safety of the staff who have to attend college for administrative work despite the suspension of academic activities.As all shops reported that sanitisers have run out of stock, we decided to make it ourselves, Biswas said.Apart from the chemical ingredients available at the lab, other contents such as alcohol and hydrogen dioxide were procured from market, and the concoction was prepared meeting WHO specifications, he said.Biswas said that a team from the college has already met the officials of the state health department to offer support in replenishing sanitiser stock as much as possible.In another such move, an organisation called Bangla Sanskriti Manch has prepared 5,000 bottles of hand sanitiser.The organisations Secretary Tanmoy Ghosh said with the sanitisers have been made with the help of three scientists. We intend to distribute these bottles among the marginalised people and in remote districts, he said.A top health department official said sanitisers should have over 60 per cent alcoholic content and prepared by qualified chemists.We have been told about the hand sanitiser developed in Surendranath College. We welcome such move and we will test their samples soon to decide if their product can be used on a mass scale, he said.
