The Surgical Innovations and Biotechnology Laboratory (SIBOL) of the UP College of Medicine has partnered with engineers, other scientists, and and artists from UP Diliman creating a SIBOL-COVID Task Force to better equip UP Manila in its fight against COVID-19. The SIBOL-COVID Task Force has three teams doing several projects to address these objectives: (1) protection e.g. personal protection equipment or PPEs, (2) disinfection, and (3) distancing e.g. telemonitoring. The SaniPod is one of 5 projects for disinfection.

What is the SaniPod?
It is a disinfection cubicle for health care workers (HCW), specifically the frontliners, which provides another layer of protection against the virus.

How does it compare with other disinfection chambers, like the SaniTents?
Unlike the Tents, the SaniPod is meant for a single person. It also provides misting, but this is only one of several disinfection processes. The UP SaniPod has not just gone through technical scrutiny by our engineer partners; it has also undergone a “pathogen challenge”, which proves its efficacy against the microbe. In other words, evidence-based disinfection!

But didn’t the DOH issue a warning against misting?
This warning is for unprotected people or HCW.  The DOH allows misting only when the HCW is in full PPE, which is the case with the SaniPod. The Dept of Science & Technology (DOST) endorsed this proposal to the Dept of Health and it is very clear that the HCW is protected while inside the SaniPod.

Who made it?
Like all the other projects of SIBOL, and now SIBOL-COVID Task Force, it is a product of intense collaboration which started from conceptualization, all the way to the finished product.

Our partners are headed by the team of Prof. Eduardo Magdaluyo, Jason Pechardo, and lead technician Don Argote from the College of Engineering Dept of Mining, Metallurgical and Materials Engineering (or triple M); Engr. Mitchay Pacia (now Vice Chancellor); Prof. Joyce Ibana (biologist); and Prof. Fe Carino and Eiza Yu (chemists) from UP Diliman.  The clinicians from UP Manila are Dr. Edward Wang, Dr. Catherine Co, resident Drs. Jom Dychioco and Anya Pena, microbiologists led by Dr. Maita Lota, and RA Nurse Jenna Gonzalez.

You can’t imagine the intensity and the brains that went into and is still going into this collaboration!

Where did the funding come from?
Dr. Jimmy Montoya, executive director of DOST-PCHRD (Philippine Council for Health Research and Development) was committed from the start to fully support these urgent COVID projects.  But while waiting for the DOST budget release, we were lucky to have a wealth of friends and private donors who provided initial seed money for all of our plans! One of our most generous donors was Xavier School high school batch 1975.

Will the SaniPod replace other misting apparatus?
No. We continue to learn from other groups and we share our problems and solutions so that eventually, we can all develop the best chambers according to tried and tested plans and prototypes.

So, basically, how does the SaniPod work?
Upon exiting COVID-heavy areas, the HCW prior to doffing PPEs, enters the SaniPod for disinfection. AFTER disinfection inside the Pod, doffing occurs outside of the Pod.  The Pod utilizes disinfectants whose safety have been approved by our chemists, biologists, and clinicians.  There are also additional features (like air shower and UV irradiation among other things).

The big advantage of the SaniPod is the additional layer of protection for our HCW and the protection for those who clean up and dispose of our discarded PPEs.  The SaniPod is made in such a way that it allows none to minimal possible contamination not just of the HCW and people working around it, but even of the Pod itself!

How many are you making?  Are they free?
As per DOST-PCHRD, we are going to make a total of 5 over the next few months to be deployed for free in PGH and hospitals requiring such disinfection units.  

Note: If you want to discuss with clinicians, engineers, scientists, or artists regarding your possible solutions to a clinical problem, SIBOL is open to anyone from the University of the Philippines.  Call 0917-7189948  and we will work with you to find an answer!

Dr. Edward Wang with Dr. Catherine Co (UPCM), Prof. Eduardo Magdaluyo, and Jason Pechardo (UPCE)
Published in Healthscape Special COVID-19 Issue No. 9