Suparshva Swabs to produce 50 lakh swabs per week for COVID-19 tests by May-end

Personal hygiene consumer products firm Suparshva Swabs on Wednesday said it is ramping up production to produce over 50 lakh COVID-19 swabs per week by the end of this month. Currently, the company is producing 20 lakh COVID-19 swabs per week.

To meet the need for COVID-19 tests, the company had to convert the entire cotton facility to a different fibre and by May 5, it started making polyester swabs, Suparshva  Swabs Partner Rahul Jain said in a webinar. The company is ramping up production, by converting its production lines and reconfiguring equipment of some of its manufacturing capabilities, he added.

"Before the end of May we should be producing 50 lakh swabs per week. The company can ramp up the production to produce over 3 crore COVID-19 swabs per week by end of June or so, if required," Jain said. Suparshva Swabs has developed and received the ICMR (Indian Council of Medical Research) and NIV (National Institute of Virology) validation for domestically produced polyester swabs, he added.

This is significant as COVID-19 test swabs were not manufactured in India, and were imported from the US or China, the company said in a statement. "We developed polyester swabs for COVID testing by converting the 100 per cent cotton processing lines, to produce polyester swabs, within 10 days flat", Jain said.  What is unique here, is that the entire development was done in-house by company's team and the trials were done on main production lines, which enabled it to start producing the same day it received the ICMR approval, he added.

According to Association of Indian Medical Device Industry (AiMeD) Forum Coordinator Rajiv Nath, India will have to increase testing and may need over 70 lakh – 1 crore swabs every week, to enable the nation to safely begin easing lockdown restrictions and open the economy.   Incorporated in 1998, Suparshva Swabs is the one of the largest manufacturer/ exporter of personal hygiene products, like cotton buds, special swabs, cotton balls etc. in entire South Asia..