IN this series of ‘Made in Penang: Pitching in to fight Covid-19’, investPenang continues to feature Penang companies and products that support local and global healthcare needs during the pandemic period.

 UW Healthcare was established in 2011 with full-fledged in-house capability in research and development (R&D), validation, production, chemical and microbiology functions. The quality management system (QMS) of UW Healthcare complies with ISO 13485: 2016, EN ISO 13485:2016 and ISO 9001:2015.

Working together with the medical professionals from Penang Hospital on the specification requirements, UW Healthcare produced the “Covid Test Booth”. The testing booth provides an extra safety net to the frontliners who test patients with Covid-19 symptoms and is placed outside the hospital’s emergency department.

Fixed with a high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filter, the all-aluminium booth is designed to trap very fine particles effectively. In the sealed booth, a doctor will perform the oral and nasal swabbing test on a patient using rubber gloves attached to the booth. Essentially, the HEPA filter is able to filter out micro-organisms and creates a high-pressure environment inside the booth to protect the frontliners. There is a fitted meter allowing frontliners to monitor the pressure. It is also equipped with an adjustable table and stand, LED lighting and an intercom phone system.

UW Healthcare’s Covid Test Booth

UW Healthcare builds the test booth in-house and it costs RM5,000 per unit. The company has no plan to commercialise the booth currently but plans to build more for general hospitals’ usage, as part of the company’s CSR initiatives.

UW Healthcare’s disposable oxygen prefilled humidifier, inhaler spacer and hand sanitizer are the critically needed items in the current pandemic

The essential products that are manufactured by UW Healthcare in the fight against Covid-19 include disposable oxygen prefilled humidifier, inhaler spacer and hand sanitizer.

Disposable oxygen prefilled humidifier

• Used to humidify the oxygen for Covid-19 patients receiving oxygen therapy.
• The use of disposable oxygen prefilled humidifier has been shown to decrease the likelihood of cross-contamination when compared to the reusable oxygen humidification units.
• UW Healthcare has a monthly production capacity of 250,000 bottles of the disposable oxygen prefilled humidifier.

Inhaler spacer

• The Health Ministry has suggested the use of inhaler spacer to replace nebulizer for bronchodilator therapy as the former could reduce the chances of spreading the Covid-19 virus in hospitals.

UW Healthcare’s production capacity for inhaler spacer is 100,000 units per month.

Hand sanitizer

• Hand sanitizer is commonly used amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
• UW Healthcare produces up to 200,000 bottles of hand sanitizer per month.

Stay tuned for more ‘Made in Penang’ articles on products that are needed in the battle against the Covid-19.

An initiative of InvestPenang; Published in Buletin Mutiara