Kartik Singhal, Founder, O2 Cure
While dealing with SARS-CoV-2 in 2020, we all saw the Indian healthcare system being resilient in battling against the deadly virus. India takes every crisis as an opportunity and isn’t rattled so easily by any sort of adversity. The prevailing pandemic is an eye-opener since it shows us that in the coming decade, we might have to deal with other toxic pollutants that can harm the human habitat. Specific outdoor & indoor pollutants such as NOx, SOx, ammonia, CO2 etc contribute to chronic public health problems and that is what we need to prepare for going forward.
In a few months’ time, the intensity of the pandemic will subside, however, this year can be seen as a lesson to the human kind of what the future might unfold. This also will give clarity to people on the levels of precautions to be taken to avoid such deadly microbial attacks.
With investments and R&D, our focus will be on active purification technologies over conventional methods of dust filtration. The industry has changed significantly in the past few years and this outbreak has taught all of us the importance of health before anything else.
The emerging data has shown that in terms of mortality, the situation in India hasn’t been as grim as in some European nations and the US. The only shortcoming in India is that emergency services are limited. However, keeping this in mind, the Indian government has adopted certain unprecedented measures, which have worked miraculously to curb the spread of the virus so far.