Bengaluru Startup Makes Face Shields Using 3D-Printing Tech

Over a million people are infected with COVID-19 globally. The novel coronavirus has really hit pause on the whole world. And with the rising number of cases, the medical force needs more emergency medical supplies than ever.

From face masks to protective suits, medical workers need the equipment to protect them while treating infected patients.

However, the shortage of these medical supplies is becoming a worrying problem. Doctors and nurses are forced to use garbage bags and raincoats for protective cover. Masks are reused, which isn’t a recommendable thing to do while treating patients.

Rohit Asil, printing company Fracktal Works’ co-founder decided to do something about this. He teamed up with his friends from Manipal University, Vijay Raghav and Raghav Sridhar, and Hatch Bangalore Restaurant chain’s owner, Vaibhav Hegde use 3D-printing technology to make face shields and acquire other needed medical supplies for Karnataka medical healthcare workers.

Via the Ketto crowdsourcing platform, the team has asked people for donations so that they can purchase more supplies. The fund will be used to provide face shields and hand sanitizers to doctors, nurses and medical staff in the Dakshina Kannada district. In only 10 hours, the fundraising goal has been surpassed.

Asking Asil Rohit why he decided to start this initiative, he responded that he wanted to contribute after witnessing what the doctors had gone through during the pandemic.

He added that since N95 masks were alarming scarce, the team wanted to prolong the use of the existent N95 masks by manufacturing face shields.

The face shields’ main skeleton is 3D-printed. Meanwhile, the team uses OHP sheets used in OHP projectors for the transparent shields. Once the 3D-printing process is completed, it only takes a few minutes to assemble the whole face shield.

At the moment, 3,000 face shields will be donated to tier and tier 3 regions’ medical professions. The team has also received requests from the government and will provide 100,000 units.

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