Team from FCCI laying out the material for the PPEs before cutting them into various sizes and specifications.
FOET staff making the necessary adjustments to the 3D printers to produce the face shields.
Encik Jamalruddin (rightmost) with his colleagues who are involved in the collaborative effort in producing PPEs.
In mounting its effort to fight against the Covid-19 pandemic, TAR UC has initiated a number of initiatives to support the needs of the nation’s front liners. The first initiative is a joint collaboration between the Faculty of Communication and Creative Industries (‘FCCI’) and Malaysian Fashion Designer, Datuk Radzuan Radziwill, to produce 400 Personal Protective Equipment (‘PPE’) for the team of health professionals in a number of public hospitals. Within a short period of time, everyone involved in the collaboration including TAR UC’s fashion design lecturers have coordinated themselves in working towards producing the required PPEs.
The team in TAR UC involved in this initiative is led by Encik Jamalruddin Bin Zamahuri who is a Programme Leader and Senior Lecturer in the Department of Creative Industries in FCCI. “The initiative is on a big scale and for us at TAR UC, we have been given the task of cutting the materials into specific sizes before handing them over to the next team to proceed with the next step of production. When we were informed of this initiative, we did not think twice to offer our support. I am very thankful to the management of TAR UC and FCCI for their support in allowing us to use the campus’ Fashion Design facilities. I am also thankful to my colleagues who have offered their support for this initiative and all of us are ready to continue our efforts for this initiative even after hitting the initial production target of 400 PPEs,” he shared.
TAR UC’s second initiative is the production of 3D-printed face shields which is undertaken by the Faculty of Engineering and Technology (‘FOET’). Ts. Ong Thai Kiat, Associate Dean of the Department of Materials Engineering in FOET is the coordinator in producing the 3D-printed face shields and the faculty is aiming to produce 500 face shields for health personnel in Hospital Kuala Lumpur (‘HKL’). Ts. Ong together with 9 other colleagues from FOET started producing the face shields on 14 April 2020. “We have been following the news from the Ministry of Health not only to keep ourselves updated on the current situation but to also see if there are any ways we can lend our support in the fight against this pandemic.
“Upon receiving a response from the Director of HKL and also the Head of Pharmacy Resource Centre at HKL on the shortage of face shields, we immediately discussed and pulled together all the necessary resources to start producing the face shields with the 3D printers we have in campus. Although we were faced with a shortage of rubber strap for the face shields, we managed to source a company to sponsor 1,000 rubber straps to support the production of the face shields. We hope to deliver all 500 units to the hospital as soon as we can and if the hospital requires more units to be produced, we will definitely consider their request upon ensuring we have enough raw materials to produce another batch,” Ts. Ong explained.
In addition, TAR UC students who are part of the Army Reserve Unit or Askar Wataniah have also stepped up to assist the Malaysian Army during the Movement Control Order (‘MCO’) period. Encik Jamalruddin who is also the Advisor and Commanding Officer (CO) for Second Batallion for TAR UC Army Reserve Unit said that this is a rare opportunity for the students to be on the ground alongside the Malaysian Army in carrying out their duties to serve the nation in this time of crisis. “The students have been on the ground to assist the Malaysian Army since 28 March 2020 which was the first day of the army’s involvement in the MCO. At the beginning, 32 students volunteered themselves for this initiative and subsequently another 4 students including a few alumni joined the effort. It was a bit of a challenge to coordinate the group at the beginning, but the students were very cooperative and supportive of this initiative and we improved as we went along. And all these efforts are worthwhile for me as an educator because of the students’ feedback to me that this is a once-in-a-lifetime experience where they are able to help the Malaysian Army to safeguard the well-being of the nation in a different kind of war,” Encik Jamalruddin added.
