IIT-Hyderabad start-up launches world’s most affordable respirator mask

This is yet another significant contribution from IIT Hyderabad and the state of Telangana towards fighting the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Centre for Healthcare Entrepreneurship at the Indian Institute of Technology Hyderabad on Wednesday announced its latest entrepreneurial entity, USafe Healthcare.

An innovation-driven enterprise, currently focused on protective equipment against Covid-19, USafe has developed and commercialised the world’s most affordable respirator mask that is highly durable and adheres to the highest safety standards for operating in hazardous environments.

With a vision to provide high-quality protection, especially in the healthcare industry and its frontline workers, USafe’s US9 Respirator Mask has 98.03% PM0.3 filtration rate and 99.7% bacterial filtration rate (better than N95 standards).

“This is yet another significant contribution from IIT Hyderabad and the state of Telangana towards fighting the Covid-19 pandemic. The Innovation of reusability in US9 Respirator Mask not only reduces the recurring cost but also drastically decreases the biowaste generated due to protective masks. I congratulate the entrepreneurs backing this product and proving that the state of Telangana offers a conducive ecosystem for healthcare innovation” said Jayesh Ranjan, IAS, Principal Secretary to Telangana government, while launching the product.

The home-grown innovation in tune with the ‘Make in India’ and ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ aspirations, US9 Respirator Mask, has been designed, developed and produced in collaboration with Indian Institute of Technology Hyderabad under the mentorship of Prof Surya Kumar and Prof Renu John.