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A FREEDOM MEDICAL INTERNATIONAL & USM STORY
People are “getting bigger,” said PROFESSOR ZAIDI MOHD RIPIN, a Lecturer of Mechanical Engineering at Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM). Hence, the lifting and movement of immobilised patients in hospitals have become more of a pain in the back for healthcare professionals.
To alleviate the problem, he said, a USM research team was working on a Collaborative R&D project with Freedom Med International (FMI) to develop an “Intelligent Patient Transfer System” (IPTS).
On 15 January 2019, Jaffri Ibrahim from CREST met up with Ismail Cajee, Founder of FMI and Tan Sri Dr. Noor Hisham Abdullah, the Director-General of the Malaysian Ministry of Health (MOH). Tan Sri Dr. Noor Hisham suggested that FMI to set up an office and an R&D centre in Penang to upgrade its products by leveraging on developments in the Internet of Things (IoT), artificial intelligence (AI) and other state-of-the-art technologies.
There are not that many research projects in Malaysia that may potentially generate a global impact. I do wish for Malaysia to become a centre for patient transport technology.”
Professor Zaidi Mohd Ripin, Lecturer of Mechanical Engineering at Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM)
As of May 2022, the project has reached the prototyping stage, and according to Prof. Zaidi, clinical trials will commence in Q4 2022.
FMI has spoken to CREST about possibilities to design and manufacture exoskeletons and deploy new materials to produce different types of intelligent machines to support care workers in hospitals and care homes.
Prof. Zaidi said the FMI-USM collaboration on the IPTS could open new doors of opportunity for Malaysia.
“The solutions we will produce are local, but the problem is global. The global market is huge, and that’s why I am so excited about doing this kind of research.”
