At this very moment, the world is seeing the worst crisis in hospitals losing their capacities to treat Covid—19 patients and Sri Lanka is pondering whether it could slide into a crisis. To avoid such disaster, it is very important to keep the medical crews of all levels healthy and safe in order to avoid staff shortages at crucial times. To help keep the staff of the closely associated hospitals safe, the Wayamba University of Sri Lanka swiftly took actions to fabricate more than 80 face shields of high quality and durability and to donate them to the hospitals on the 09th of April, 2020. Face shields are especially important for medical staff who face a much higher likelihood of exposure to infectious diseases compared to the general public. The general medical care staff is known to be under threats of Covid-19 infected patients who accidently come in contact with general care units before being transferred to Covid—19 special units. When developing the face shields the user requirements of medical personnel and possible alternatives were carefully considered before the fabrications. The design and fabrication were selected to cater such general medical care staff to get and additional protection on top of facemasks and goggles and would be useful in fighting any highly contagious diseases later on. Readily available safety helmets and visors designed for motorbike helmets have best served the purpose of the project. One unit has cost around 600 rupees.
After receiving the requests from the Kuliyapitiya and Kurunegala hospitals, Prof E.M.P. Ekanayake, the Vice Chancellor, decided to sponsor the donation through the VC fund. The project was led by Dr. I.P.M. Wickramasinghe, Head of the Department of Mechanical and Manufacturing Technology, the Faculty of Technology under the guidance of the Act. Dean Dr. A.M.N. Alagiyawanna. Mr. P.M. Wijendra, the Lab Attendant brought up the design and fabrication concept to meet the requirements and fabricated all the shields. A special thank goes to Dr. JWMJW Jayasinghe of Faculty of Applied Sciences and Dr. R.A.N. Ranatunga and Dr S. Bowatte; the Act. Dean of Faculty of Medicine for the suggestions and mediations during the project. Mr Don Chithrananda, the Regisrar, and Mr U. Dharmadasa, the Bursar coordinated to provide support necessary for the project. Mr Saman Jayamaha helped in logistics.