BUKIT MERTAJAM: The lack of medical equipment at hospitals in Penang has prompted a husband and wife team, who are senior lecturers at Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), to produce face shields for frontliners battling the Covid-19 outbreak.
Dr Siti Suhaily Surip and her husband, Dr Ahmad Sufril Azlan Mohamed from USM’s Product Design Division, School of Art and its Computer Science School used a three-dimensional (3D) printing equipment from their home to produce the item.
Both found that they had lot of time in their hands following the implementation of the Movement Control Order (MCO) and wanted to make use of it by helping the frontline health personnel.
She said besides having 3D printing machines, they also have the necessary materials such as 'Polylactic Acid'(PLA) filaments and 'Polivinyl Chloride Resin'(PVC) plastic, essential in the production of the face shield.
“It was heartbreaking to read the news of frontline personnel lacking the necessary personal protective equipment (PPE) while on duty to combat the life threatening infection.
"So, I jumped in to help and with my husband, we produced face shields for the front line staff to be donated to several hospitals in the state," Siti Suhaily said when contacted today.
Obviously, the amount of face shields produced were insufficient to meet demands but hoped that their small effort would be meaningful to the wearers.
"Daily, we are able to produce 10 or more face shields based on the output of the 3D printing machine. The numbers may not be much but we hope it will be able to help the frontliners," she said.
At the same time, Siti Suhaily said she and her husband also collaborated with USM's School of Electrical and Electrical Engineering to produce face shields to meet any high demand requirement.
"If we get requests for more then 50 units, then we will collaborate with the university. If the numbers are small, then we produce them at home.
"Additionally, we also assist USM in producing other equipment such as aerosol boxes which was distributed to the Kepala Batas Hospital." she said.
