KUALA LUMPUR: MSIG Insurance (Malaysia) Bhd has teamed up with philanthropist Sujana Mohd Rejab, to enable him to design and build electronically controlled prosthetic limbs for three people injured in road traffic accidents.
"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,” MSIG Malaysia chief executive officer Chua Seck Guan said in a statement.
"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," he said.
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.
"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," Chua said.
MSIG, in line with its corporate support for the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) decided to provide Sujana with additional support and resources to enable him to build customised prosthetics for three Malaysians who had been injured in road traffic accidents.
MSIG believe that their 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 lucky beneficiaries were selected by Sujana from the numerous worthy requests he received after developing his reputation in this field.
They include Mohamad Safian Abdullah, a 27-year-old cleaner from Johor, who unfortunately lost his right forearm in a motorcycle accident seven years ago and Mukhtar 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. Once this has happened Sujana then starts the process of producing the necessary parts using the 3D printer and assembling these into a complete prosthetic limb.
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.
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