EPAM Introduces COVID-19 Mask For Medical Professionals Designed By EPAM Continuum

The GENTL Mask is an open source solution designed to enable local manufacturers to meet the rising healthcare demand for personal protective equipment

NEWTOWN, Pennsylvania, March 27, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- EPAM Systems, Inc. (NYSE: EPAM), a leading global provider of digital platform engineering and software development services, today announced that it has released the GENTL Mask, an open source solution for manufacturers to address the supply shortage of protective masks that medical professionals need amid the coronavirus outbreak. The GENTL Mask was designed by EPAM Continuum, the integrated business, technology and experience consulting practice of EPAM.

Due to COVID-19, there has been a spike in demand for personal protective equipment (PPE), resulting in supply chain disruption as many PPE comes from China. According to the South China Morning Post, "China is now making more than 100 million masks a day, up from 20 million before the coronavirus outbreak." Healthcare workers who are on the front lines of the pandemic are facing a dire shortage of testing supplies and PPE that keeps them safe and able to care for patients. Earlier this month, the World Healthcare Organization called on industries to increase manufacturing of PPE by 40% to meet the rising global demand.

"There have been many grassroots efforts that have popped up in response to this supply chain challenge. What we've done with the GENTL Mask is created an innovative mask design that is incredibly simple to make at scale," said Chris Michaud, VP, EPAM Continuum. "Depending on the healthcare system, some hospitals are running out of surgical masks and some are running out of filtered masks. We set out to address both needs with a modular design and then quickly got to work creating prototypes of the GENTL Mask in our Made Real Lab, a space that enables our clients and consumers to see, touch and experience new-to-the-world concepts for the first time. Leveraging EPAM's broad network, the GENTL Mask is now under review by several leading healthcare organizations and health ministries around the world and in testing with several manufacturers and government agencies across a number of countries."