UNS – The students of Mechanical Engineering Faculty of Engineering (FT) Universitas Sebelas Maret (UNS) Surakarta took part in the struggle to fight COVID-19. They produced face shields that will be distributed to the UNS Hospital and several COVID-19 referral hospitals in Surakarta. The production of the face shield is performed Monday to Friday from 09.00 WIB – 16.00 WIB (West Indonesia Time) in building 6 FT Automation Laboratory.
Initially, the head of the FT UNS Mechanical Engineering program, Dr. Eko Surojo and the directors of UNS Hospital conducted coordination to determine the steps that can be taken to assist the COVID-19 handling in Indonesia and the scarcity of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) for medical personnel.
“The beginning of the story is because the head of Mechanical Engineering program and Directors of UNS Hospital conducted coordination on what can be done to help the COVID handling, then UNS Hospital stated that (they) need PPE, then several ideas emerged from coordination, one of which was the face shield,” explained Seraf Steva Oryzanan who is a student of Mechanical Engineering FT UNS class of 2016 and involved in the face shield project.
Last week they were succeeded to produce around 500 units of the face shield. The target for this week is 500 face shields. In a day, they can produce between 75 until 100 face shields.
“We can produce 75 until 100 face shield a day,” said Seraf.
Under the guidance from Fitrian Imaddudin, Ph.D., their target is to produce 1,000 face shields to be donated and not to be commercialized. However, they do not rule out the possibility that if there are demand and funding support, they can produce more than 1,000 units of the face shield.
“If there are (parties) who need (it) and there is additional funding support, maybe we will produce more than 1,000 units,” Seraf conveyed.
Seraf admitted that he/she and his/her friends in the Mechanical engineering program made the face shield from easily obtained materials so that it can be made at home using simple tools and materials.
“The advantages, like the face shield in general, but we use easily obtained materials, so even though scarcity is on the market but actually it can be made at home with existing materials such as mica and water pipe,” Seraf said.
The step taken by the Mechanical Engineering program must be appreciated. They wish that it can solve the problem of PPE scarcity in COVID-19 handling, and to protect medical personnel who deal directly with patients exposed to COVID-19. Humas UNS/Zalfaa