KUALA LUMPUR: Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Medical Centre (UKMSC) will enhance its bone restructuring department by strengthening collaboration with industry players.
University Teknologi Malaysia (UKM) medical faculty dean Professor Dr Raja Affendi Raja Ali said UKMSC will focus on innovation to develop more safety devices and reduce the hassle of operations involving bone reconstructions.
Speaking after a memorandum of understanding (MoU)-signing ceremony between UKMSC and Vigelenz Medical Device Sdn Bhd, he said the collaboration would improve the standard of care for their patients.
“With this collaboration, we hope to produce more high impact journals relating to orthopaedic medicine and procedures.
“We also hope this (MoU) will help us improve the university’s (performance) in the QS World Rankings. It will also open the path to more collaboration with other renowned universities and industry players,” he said at the Advance Surgical Skills Centre (ASSC), Hospital Cancelor Tengku Mukhriz, UKMSC, on Thursday.
Vigelenz chief executive officer Professor Dr. S. Choudry said the company is committed to bringing about more innovations to assist the industry in the country.
“We have an outstanding track record in producing world class technology and innovations.
“We are hoping to produce more workable safe devices for the benefit of our medical industry,” he said.
Dr Choudry said Vigelenz – which is fully owned by Malaysians – is the first company of its kind to receive Halal recognition by the Malaysian Islamic Development Department (Jakim) for its surgical thread four years ago.
Meanwhile, UKMSC Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon (Arthroscopy and Sports Injury) Datuk Dr. Badrul Akmal Hisham Md Yusoff said the institution, together with Vigelenz, has had several previous successful collaborations.
“We received two patients who suffered from broken bones in their legs which needed restructuring surgery.
“Their cases were unique, because they encountered an infection on their wounds which forced us to remove the steel implanted inside their legs.
“We approached Vigelenz and they introduced us to Bactiguard Infection Protection Coating Technology (Bactiguard), which was able to prevent the (spread of the) infection,” he said.
Dr Badrul Akmal added that with the signing of the collaboration, UKMSC is hoping to produce similar results in the future.