Airborne Rescue Pod for Isolated Transportation: ARPIT | 09 Jun 2020

Recently, the Indian Air Force (IAF) has designed, developed and inducted an Airborne Rescue Pod for Isolated Transportation i.e. ARPIT.

This pod will be utilised for evacuation of critical patients with infectious diseases including Covid-19 from high altitude areas, isolated and remote places.
Supporting the Atmanirbhar Bharat Initiative, only indigenous materials have been used to fabricate this pod.
Requirement of an air evacuation system with facility to prevent spread of infectious aerosol from a Covid-19 patient during air travel was felt by IAF when the disease was declared as a pandemic.

Lightweight Isolation System:
- The pod has a transparent and durable cast perspex (transparent plastic that is sometimes used instead of glass) for enhanced patient visibility which is larger, higher and wider than the existing models.
- The isolation system caters for a suitable number of air exchanges, integration of medical monitoring instruments, and ventilation to an intubated patient.
- In addition, it generates high constant negative pressure in the isolation chamber for prevention of infection risk to aircrew, ground crew and health care workers involved in air transportation.
High Efficiency Particulate Air:
- It utilises High Efficiency Particulate Air (HEPA) H-13 class filters and supports invasive ventilation using transport ventilators.
- HEPA: It is an air-filtration system designed to capture at least 99.97% of fine airborne particles, dust, pollen, mold, bacteria, with a size of at least 0.3 micrometre.
Cost Effective:
- It has been developed at a cost of Rs. 60,000 only, as compared to the imported systems costing up to Rs. 60 lakh.