ITI geared up to tackle COVID-19 with herbal products

BY KELUM BANDARA

he Industrial Technology Institute (ITI) has manufactured several herbal products that can be used in the fight against coronavirus, Cabinet Spokesman and Minister Dr. Bandula Gunawardane told Daily Mirror yesterday. “ITI has developed a hand sanitizer using turmeric and veniwel. Another liquid product has been manufactured to be used for throat infections. It is antibacterial and therefore can be used for gargling when infected with the virus,” he said. The minister said he would seek Cabinet approval next week enabling ITI to market these products. “Currently, ITI has no authority to market what it manufactures. It gets the private sector to do it.

I asked ITI to market its products hereafter. We will evolve a piece of legislation to make provision for this,” he said.