During the covid-19 pandemic, the need for alcohol-based hand sanitizer has increased. To address this issue, the Chemistry Department of PTM Govt College has initiated the production and distribution of hand sanitizers.
Objective:
To produce and distribute alcohol-based hand sanitizer.
To create awareness about sanitizer usage among the students and staff of the college.
Practice:
Procedure for making sanitizer is obtained from WHO website. Chemicals were procured with financial aid from PTA. We used the following chemicals : isopropyl alcohol, hydrogen peroxide, deionized water and lemon-grass oil for fragrance. Synthesis were done using facilities available in the Chemistry lab. The teachers and students of BSc Chemistry
programme has volunteered in the process. The basic training is given to the student volunteers before the production started. The prepared sanitizer is distributed among the students, staff and faculty of the college.
Evidence of success:
We made the sanitizer as per the WHO standard.
Students, faculty and staff of the college maintains good hygiene practices like sanitizer usage to prevent Covid infection.
Challenges faced :
Availability of raw materials.
Raw material isopropyl alcohol is expensive. At the later stages of the pandemic, commercial sanitizers became available at much cheaper rate.