MSIG and Sujana Mohd Rejab join forces to build 3D-printed limbs for victims of road accidents.
MSIG Insurance (Malaysia) Bhd has teamed up with big-hearted Malaysian philanthropist Sujana Mohd Rejab to enable him to design and build electronically controlled prosthetic limbs for three people injured in road traffic accidents.
Sujana, a former teacher who now runs a 3D printing business in Perak, taught himself how to build prosthetics after researching the subject online and investing in some Computer Aided Design (CAD) software, as well as a 3D printing machine.
Over the past couple of years, he has produced over 50 prosthetic items for children in need – but these have been primarily manual prosthetics because larger, more complicated electronically controlled devices are much more expensive to produce.
MSIG, in line with its corporate support for the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) – particularly SDG3 (to ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages), and its ongoing commitment to road safety as one of Malaysia’s leading motor insurers, decided to provide Sujana with additional support and resources to enable him to build customized prosthetics for three Malaysians who had been injured in road traffic accidents.
MSIG believes that its support for this cause will not only transform the lives of the three individuals who will directly benefit, but will also serve to remind Malaysians of the importance of being vigilant on the roads.
The three beneficiaries were selected by Sujana from the numerous requests he received after developing his reputation in this field. They include Mohamad Safian bin Abdullah, a 27-year-old cleaner from Johor, who unfortunately lost his right forearm in a motorcycle accident seven years ago, and Mukhtar bin Mahmud, a 63-year-old former teacher from Negeri Sembilan, who also lost his right forearm in a car accident just over two years ago.
The process of building a prosthetic limb is a complicated and time-consuming one. It starts with Sujana meeting the recipient and taking detailed measurements which are then fed into the computer. After that, Sujana then starts the process of producing the necessary parts using the 3D printer and assembling these into a complete prosthetic limb.
There then has to be a further ‘fitting’ meet up so that the prosthetic limb can be tested, after which it can be further refined and perfected to meet the needs of the beneficiary. This process can take several months, especially as it does require Sujana and the recipients (often from different parts of the country) to meet face-to-face.
MSIG is the first corporate sponsor to directly contribute to the fabrication of the electronically controlled prosthetics that he has designed, and he hopes to get continued support from corporations such as MSIG to enable him to do more to help people in need.
Chua Seck Guan, Chief Executive Officer of MSIG Malaysia, said:”We are delighted to be working with Sujana Mohd Rejab on this project. He is an exceptionally inspirational and innovative person who cares deeply about helping people — and we in turn are delighted to be able to help him do this.”
He continued: “We hope that our support for Sujana helps highlight the issue of road safety in Malaysia. There were 548,598 road accidents reported in 2018, the second highest in the region and an alarming increase of 12% since 2015. As one of Malaysia’s leading motor insurers we want to encourage vigilance and care on the roads.”
“The consequences of road traffic accidents can be fatal and even when it is not, it can still seriously impact and damage people’s lives. While we hope that our support for Sujana will significantly improve the quality-of-life for the recipients, we really want to spread the message about road safety and avoid having people get into these situations in the first place.”
