Sarawak Maker Community Supporting Frontliners Against COVID-19 through Digital Technology
Date:
6th April 2020
Place/Venue:
Kuching, Sarawak
Participants:
Sarawak Multimedia Authority (SMA)
Description:
Sarawak Multimedia Authority (SMA) has always supported digital initiatives as part of its agenda of driving digital Sarawak. During this Covid-19 outbreak, the Authority through its Digital Village unit, has brought together the diverse maker communities in the state to expand their own initiative to support the medical frontliners here. These maker communities are currently producing face shields using 3D Printers and laser cutters. PPEs such as face shield is crucial to safeguard our frontliners from any potential infection to comply to the droplet precaution protocol. The maker community is made up of various organisations such as Startups, Small Medium Enterprise (SME), Social Enterprise (SE), STEM Educators, Non Profit Organisations (NGO) and individuals from across Sarawak. With the strength of more than one hundred (100) volunteers making the PPEs in their own home, the community targets to produce 10,000 units of various types of PPEs in the first run. They include ventilators and intubation shields for anaesthetists. Furthermore, they are also collecting donations to supply frontliners with gloves, N95 masks and thermos. As a lead player in the Digital Economy Ecosystem, SMA is proud to see the strong spirit of volunteerism among our talented community in this crisis. Their capability drives home the point of the inherent empowering and scalability of technology to solve problems that require quick turnaround time. These efforts highlight how important access to digital technology and education can do in helping the community and country as a whole.” says Dr Zaidi Razak, Sarawak Multimedia Authority.