COVID-19 Response
With the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic, our division repurposed the Orthopaedic 3D Printing Laboratory for rapid design and production of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and other consumables to aid the response to the crisis.
Partnering with the Department of Mechanical and Mechatronic engineering, Student Volunteer Groups (WeFightBackCOVID), several community volunteers, industry partners and the management and occupational health teams at Tygerberg Hospital, we initiated several projects to rapidly produce PPE for health care workers on the frontline.
Prusa Visor Project:
- Combining a freely available design for a face shield headband with clear sheets of plastic and elastic straps, the 3D Printing lab has facilitated the student volunteer group WeFightBackCovid in creating high quality face shields for healthcare workers at Tygerberg Hospital, local secondary hospitals and clinics, distributed free of charge.
Hands-free door openers:
- By adapting the freely available designs from the engineering firm Materialise, we designed and manufactured hands-free door openers for Tygerberg Hospital high risk areas.
Consumables for Video-Laryngoscopes:
- Our colleagues at Emergency Medicine use a Video Laryngoscopy system for difficult airways but are using it much more frequently now that they have treat patients that potentially have COVID-19 infection The Video Laryngoscope is essential for visualisation in these circumstances. We reverse-engineered the disposable blades and are manufacturing blades for them on demand.
Reference:
Orthopaedics in the developing world:
ADAPTING to a new reality within the COVID-19 pandemic.
Anley C, Burger M, Ferreira N, Fuzy E, Venter RG, Du Toit J
TJOT&C. 2020.