Accra, March 30, GNA – The Accra Technical University (ATU) has fabricated a handwashing stand to address one of society’s sanitation challenge of frequent handwashing by Ghanaians.
The Mechanical Engineering Department of ATU fabricated the mobile handwashing stand, designed to hold a veronica bucket, a wastewater container, soap, waste bin, and paper towel.
In an interview with the Ghana News Agency, Dr Henry Hackman, Head of Department of Medical Laboratory Technology, said the innovation was to minimise the handling of each handwashing item, thereby reducing the spread of bacteria and viral infections among users.
“This is exactly what every home, intuition, and market need in this time that health experts are recommending frequent handwashing as a preventive measure to contain and reduce the spread of COVID-19,” he said.
Dr Hackman said the University had produced a 70 per cent alcohol-based hand sanitizer, which had been certified by the Food and Drugs Authority.
He said the University had the skill, laboratory, and machinery to produce many items to addresses real-time problems fields like engineering, medicine, social and economics.
“There are a lot of product prototypes that students and staff have designed that are on the shelves. We can only accelerate such innovation with collaboration with industries.”
“We have a department that fabricates items including gates, parts of grinding millers, implements and doors. These fabrications can be custom made so industries can approach and tell us what they want,” he said.
The University’s focus, he said, was not to make profit hence its inability to commercialise those products.
Dr Hackman called for a strong linkage between technical universities and industries to enable society to derive the full benefits from the innovation of students and lecturers.
He said the University had also developed a detergent and soaps, which would be used by students and staff.
GNA