Handing over ceremony of NBC Medical Emergency Kit to Indian Army
Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) handed over three of its products for induction into the Indian Army in a formal function here today. The products are namely (i) Weapon Locating Radar (WLR), SWATHI, (ii) NBC Recce vehicle and (iii) NBC Drugs. The Defence Minister Shri Manohar Parrikar who presided the function handed over the products to the Chief of the Army Staff General Bipin Rawat on behalf of DRDO.
Addressing the function the Defence Minister congratulated DRDO for the series of recent trials including the interceptor missiles. He complimented DRDO scientists for handing over equipment to the Indian Army. Shri Parrikar said that DRDO, Defence Forces, PSU's and Private Sector industry's partnership can be a game changer in the near future.The Chief of Army Staff, General Bipin Rawat after receiving the products complimented the DRDO for achieving another milestone in their continuing success stories. He was optimistic that at this speed, modernisation of Indian Army would move at a much faster pace.
Speaking at the function the DRDO Chairman and Secretary Department of Defence (R&D) Dr. S Christopher said “after Navy and Air Force, time has now come to handover our products to the Army and it is a proud moment for all scientists in DRDO”. He stressed that the co-development approach of involving DRDO, user and the industry would speed up projects.
DRDO has been developing a number of products for the Indian Army in support of their field operations and welfare of soldiers on ground. Many of these products have been inducted and are presently operational in field units. In 2016, the Weapon Locating Radar, NBC Recce Vehicle and a set of NBC Drugs had been successfully tested after extensive evaluation by competent evaluation teams/bodies.
DRDO's INMAS is actively engaged in research in the field of radio protectors, de-corporating agents and antidotes for Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear (CBRN) emergencies, combat casualty care and other lifesaving drugs. INMAS has carried out extensive research and laboratory trials in the past two decades to develop formulations for use as antidotes and de-corporating agents for CBRN emergencies. Out of the several formulas developed by INMAS, 15 drugs have been identified for induction.
AERB accreditation of INMAS for assessment of personnel radiation exposures (Biodosimetric Techniques)
Possibility of radiation exposure exists for armed force personnel during various missions. Medical management radiation exposed personnel will require accurate assessment of absorbed radiation dose of individuals. The laboratory procedure for biodosimetry based on dicentric chromosomal assay is the Gold standard and recommended by IAEA. The assay requires peripheral blood sample for preparation of metaphase slides using lymphocytes harvested from blood culture. The lab is established with state of the art dedicated facilities with automated microscope (Metafer 4) for triage operation in the event of any radiation emergency. Biodosimetry laboratory of INMAS has been granted accreditation by AERB on 25th April 2016 and this is the third lab in the country and first in defence organization.
Radiation Countermeasures & Biodosimetry Research (Rakshak Project)
Over past many decades, radiation hazards have been frequently reported worldwide to human life, livestock as well as the ecosystem; resulting from unplanned exposures, reactor accidents/ nuclear bomb explosions followed by radioactive fallout, strategic nuclear tests, as well as by dirty bombs used recently for espionage activities. Ionizing Radiation inflicts damage to biological system essentially through direct deposition of energy in biomolecules, or by ionization of water molecules in the micro-milieu leading to highly reactive free radicals. These reactive oxygen species in turn react with DNA, proteins and lipids, and damage to various macromolecules can lead to structural and functional disturbances at cellular, tissue and systemic levels, which may culminate into severe morbidity or mortality. The requirement for ideal radioprotective and therapeutic drugs has thus been realized for a very long time, which can prevent or reduce the radiation-induced chain of pathophysiological events leading to death, morbidity or even long-term hazards including cancers observed amongst radiation survivors. A range of compounds including thiol derivatives, antioxidants, vitamins and amino acids etc. have been evaluated for their prophylactic radioprotective potential, but could not be finally inducted either due to lack of desired efficacy or associated toxicity. INMAS has been conducting extensive research on the radiobiological mechanisms, and has contributed many significant findings I this area, which carry important potential for improving biological radioprotection or for modifying biological radiation responses. Especially during the last 10-15 years, intense research has been conducted in the Institute on a variety of unexplored mechanisms, agents, active principles from natural resources, etc. These multiple ideas are being pursued to develop new countermeasures in the form of prophylactic agents, mitigating drugs, repurposed drugs, and new biodosimetry assays, besides developing an emergency-ready network of biodosimetry labs within the country.
Unmanned Aerial Vehical (Sanjay NETRA)
Sanjay Netra-NETRA is a completely autonomous, hovering Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV). It has advanced features that allow the vehicle to be flown with minimal intervention, thus enabling the used to concentrate on the mission objective and surveillance of an area, rather on operating the vehicle.
Its quick deployment time and Vertical Take-off and Landing (VTOL) abilities enable it to be used in wide range of missions. It is deal for short range missions and in confined areas. It is designed to be particularly useful for ant-terrorist operations, counter-insurgency operation in forest areas, managing hostage situations, monitoring border infiltration, local law enforcement operations, search and rescue operations, disaster management, aerial photography and many more situations where it is safer to send a UAV rather than human lives. You can get a complete picture before initiating any action. This aspect of NETRA helps to improve preparations for any operations that involve direct risk to human lives. It is a great cost effective option compared to conventional ways of having eyes in the sky. UAV is currently being used in CBRN Emergency Management Training Courses.
Mobile Whole Body Counter (DivyaDrishti)
In case of a Radiological and Nuclear accidents some radionuclide’s were released in the environment and the environmental components were contaminated and some of them still contaminated due to long half-life of some radionuclide’s such as Cs-137 (T1/2 = 30 y). Gamma ray spectrometer played an essential role in detecting the internal contamination in the accident of Chernobyl; it was used as a monitor for quick detection of the internal contamination and makes a classification of individuals according to the internal contamination. After three months of the Chernobyl accident, the most widely released radionuclides in the soil were Ce-144, Ce-141, Ru-103, Ru-106, Cs-134, Cs-137, Zr-95, Nb-95. In order to make a decision for intervention or investigation action in case of rising the background due to radiological accident, we have to give a short brief about the dose limit, intervention level, investigation level and registration level. Such assessment requires Mobile Whole Body Counter in the field itself. Terrorists are graduating fast towards CBRN terrorism. Since our Armed Forces are constantly engaged in anti-terrorism (internal Security) duties especially in J&K, NE and Maoist affected area, chances of use of Radiation Dispersal Device (RDD) on any Army Installations by the terrorists are high. In order to keep the soldier, fighting fit, in the event of use of RDD by any terrorist outfit, each affected soldier will required to be screened for Radioactive Contamination so as to control the panic in the Unit and for triage and for monitoring of the therapeutic response.
Particle Accelerator with Chemistry modules for development of Imaging probes
Division of Cyclotorn and Radiophramceutical Sceinces was officially created in 2007 after the successful installation of dual particle accelerator (cyclotron). With the strength of 07 scientists and 03 technical officers, the division has grown both in terms of human resource as well as advanced molecular imaging. Presently, the Centre has a workforce of 11 scientists who are from multidisciplinary fields with majority of them having doctorate in relevant subjects which include Chemistry, Life Sciences and Polymer Sciences. A team of technical officers provide the desired support to the scientists in the smooth functioning of the Centre. The Division is a house of unparalleled facilities in terms of highly latest sophisticated equipments. Along with a fully functional medical cyclotron, it is also equipped with an NMR (400MHZ), LC-MS n , HPLC, Molecular modelling facility, synthetic chemistry, nanotechnology, advanced radiochemistry laboratories and pre-clinical animal facility. The main focus area of the Centre is translational research and product development for early detection of diseases so as to pave the way for development of newer strategies for personalized healthcare services for Armed Forces. As on date, the Centre in its present form has successfully completed two mega projects.The scientific achievements of the division can incident from more than 200 publications in 6 years, publications in a period of six years, along with scientific achievements in the form of 6 patents granted (including one US, one European and four Indian patents). This technology advancement has also been made available in the form of activity to many research centre giving a good ROI and made available to research.DCRS has received national and international acclamation and has been able to carve out a niche for itself internationally with many successful collaborations.
INMASEAL Hydrogel & Gauze
Two haemostatic biomedical products from INMAS were one of the 44 selected Innovative Medical Technologies during ‘Festival of Innovations’ organized by National Innovation Foundation-India (NIF) and ICMR at the Rashtrapati Bhavan in 2017. The following two haemostatic products developed are under clinical evaluation stage
A biopolymeric, degradable and biocompatible hydrogel, which can be applied at multiple sites and is able to stop oozing of blood within a minute, even in case of venous rupture (INMASEAL Hydrogel),
Haemostatic gauze impregnated with biodegradable polymer, which can be used in any environment from high altitude to hot terrains of Rajasthan border area (INMASEAL Gauze)