KUALA LUMPUR: On hearing about the shortage of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) supply in many major hospitals handling the Covid-19 cases, Nurfaiz Foat quickly started a Facebook community page called “3D Printing Malaysia Community for Covid-19” to gather people who were into 3D printing to create special face shields for the medical frontliners.
The news about the Covid-19 pandemic from countries like China and Italy made him especially restless as his wife is a medical officer at Serdang Hospital.
His initiative gained traction as news of the PPE shortage went viral and many people volunteered to join him in this noble cause.
“To date we have 4,800 members in the group and almost one-third are active volunteers who help us source raw materials, print and assemble the face shields before sending them out to nearby hospitals and Klinik Kesihatan within their vicinity,” said the 30-year-old head of product at Maideasy, a local cleaning service company.
The initiative earlier faced obstacles due to a shortage of raw materials, but this was overcome with help from fellow members and the public.
“We are fortunate because we have a few stationery shop owners as well as several major manufacturers in our group who are able to contribute the much-needed raw materials,” says Nurfaiz.
Despite the challenges, the 3D Printing Malaysia Community managed to produce 6,000 face shields, which have been distributed to hospitals and Klinik Kesihatan around the country including East Malaysia.
For the face shields, the 3D Printing Malaysia Community uses an improvised design by a Swedish designer named 3dverkstan.
“We took his design and improvised it to make it faster to print by omitting some redundant parts,” says Nurfaiz.
The new design allows him to print 65 face shield frames using 1kg of PLA filament (one spool), with each frame taking 35 minutes to complete.
Despite the community’s efforts, many have questioned if the face shields, which were made at the members’ homes, were safe and hygienic for medical use.
Nurfaiz said although there were no guidelines for the volunteers, it was a common understanding that proper hygiene practice should be observed.
“We don’t require volunteers to have surgically-clean rooms.
“It is enough that they practise good hygiene. The face shields are just one part of the full PPE which will be worn once and disposed immediately. The materials used are new so they serve their purpose as a protective shield from the virus.”
The 3D Printing Malaysia Community has also stopped accepting monetary donations as the real issue was getting the supply of raw materials.
“Those who wish to help can contribute to the effort by helping us source for raw materials such as the PLA plastic filament, A4-size transparency films as well as providing transport to help deliver the face shields to different places.
“Transport is another hurdle as we are strictly not allowed to travel during MCO,” said Nurfaiz.
Nurfaiz started the Facebook community page as he believes that he would not have been able to do this alone.
“It’s teamwork that makes this community thrive and we will continue to produce the face shields for those at the frontlines.”
The 3D Printing Malaysia Community is looking for people with 3D printing capability to join them in their efforts to make the face shields.
“Those with 3D printers — companies, start-ups, stationery stores or anyone with access to the raw materials — can help us in this cause.”
Interested in joining them? Go to their 3D Printing Malaysia Community for Covid-19 Facebook page and download the design file or go to https: //bit.ly/2UxwV16.
“I hope manufacturers will also offer their expertise in injection moulding and help mass produce the face shields. They are not for us but for the hospitals.
“I also hope that the government would come out with a comprehensive plan for local manufacturers so that PPE can be easily procured locally,” said Nurfaiz.
He is not alone in the effort to help the frontliners.
Paksu Delta (real name Sujana Rejab), a self-taught innovator who is known for his 3D print-limbs, is also helping out by making face shields.
Based in Taiping, Perak, Sujana, together with other local 3D printers in Perak, has been busy supplying face shields to hospitals around Perak.
Known for his passion for 3D printing, Sujana once said that he believes that 3D printing is the future and that there will be a time where it will be of importance. The time is now, he asserts.
To quell concern that the items will be costly, he wrote on his Facebook page that all the face shields are free.
“All the face shields are made with donated materials.
“We are here to help, not make a profit.”
He also called for people with access to raw materials to make the face shields to donate them.
Another team involved in a similar effort is TeaMa. The team, headed by technopreneur Adrian Wong, produces bubble boxes or intubation boxes for Covid-19 patients.
Wong said TeaMa was collaborating with Professor Dr Victor Hoe from the Department of Social and Preventive Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University Malaya and Dr Ammar, head of Emergency Ward at Hospital Sg Buloh, for the initiative.
“The money from donors are used for printing and delivery logistics of the face shields,” he said, adding that they had received 62 units of snorkel masks from sporting goods retailer Decathlon to be turned into respiratory tools.
The aim is to avoid intubating the trachea of the patient and to stop their lungs from collapsing.
Wong called for volunteers who would wanted to help to register at www.faceshield. site/printer.