Combating coronavirus: UAE teen designs low-cost sanitisation tunnel to serve communities

Dubai - Dubai-based Indian student began working on the sanitisation tunnel after his school closed down amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

A 17-year-old Indian student of a Dubai-based school has designed a sanitisation tunnel Sanitun which costs just Dh7,500 to produce - far cheaper than the ones currently available in the market. 
Aditya Prakasan, a year 13 IB student of Wellington International School in Dubai, invented the tunnel to provide communities with an economical, space-efficient, high-quality and automated sanitisation solution that can be used at various public places such as worksites, schools, offices, and malls.
"Unlike other sanitisation tunnels in the market that have a production cost of Dh13,000 to Dh15,000, Sanitun only costs Dh7,500 to manufacture," Aditya told Khaleej Times. Sanitisation tunnels in the UAE market cost between Dh9,000 and Dh20,000.
The boy began working on Sanitun after his school closed down amid the Covid-19 pandemic. Since sanitisation tunnels are a key requirement in a pandemic-struck world, Aditya believed it must be cheaply available at all public spaces. 
"Public places such as schools and offices can't accommodate big and expensive sanitisation solutions. So, I tried to design a simple and easy to use tunnel to cut down on the cost," pointed out Aditya.
He added: "I finished building it towards the end of summer vacation. I contacted a few vendors and fabricators, got the parts I required, finalised everything, and now I have a prototype in place." 
Sanitun is designed and manufactured according to Dubai Municipality guidelines and regulations and uses the prescribed disinfectant liquid.
Aditya's father, Prakash KV, a long-term resident of UAE, said: "The tunnel has been successfully installed at a project site office so that employees and visitors can follow sanitisation procedures. People are satisfied using it." Aditya has plans to instal these tunnels at other public places in the near future.`
dhanusha@khaleejtimes.com

• Dubai