By Asmahanim Amir
Pictures by Shahiddan Saidi

BANGI, 20 September 2018 – The innovation of ankle joint developed by Hospital Canselor Tuanku Muhriz, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Medical Centre orthopaedic specialist, Prof Madya Dr Mohd Yazid Bajuri has earned him a gold medal and two silver medals at the 10^th Innovation Exhibition of Inventions and the 3^rd World Invention and Innovation Forum 2018, China, recently.

My Ankle Fixator is a new innovation to help the ankle joints injured due to accident or infections, including injuries suffered by diabetic patients.

“My Ankle Fixator is an iron placed on the outside of the leg to move the ankle in certain circumstances. The fixator can prevent ankle from stiff after healing wounds,” said Prof Madya Dr Mohd Yazid.

He said, an external fixator in the market was mostly in static (non-moving).

“When using an external fixator in three to four months, legs will become stiff because it’s not moving. It will make the patient’s hard to move and cause other complications.

So, I develop an external fixator which can move the leg in certain circumstances and it can be moved by the patient itself by changing the position of the fixator position,” he explained.

He explained that, the patients who use My Ankle Fixator can move the joints in a certain period of time.

“For example, when we put the leg in a neutral state, we will statically neutralize it for about four weeks. After two weeks, we move to the bottom, and we statically in two weeks.

Then, we raise the fixator upwards for another two weeks. So, each two weeks will have a movement,” he explained.

He said, My Ankle Fixator was approved by intellectual property (IP) and was granted this month (Sept).

“InsyaAllah we will find the collaboration with industry to market this product. Now we are in improving process and find the fund so that this product can be presented to other hospitals,” he said.

Prof Madya Dr Mohd Yazid also said, the existing fixator had a fairly high cost between RM2,000 and RM3,000.

“I hope My Ankle Fixator produced in the last two years can be marketed at a price less than RM1,000,” he added.

He said, most of the innovations developed by him is to help people get an optimal treatment at a low price.

“As a doctor, we will do something to help the patients, but if the patient is unable to bear the cost, the treatment we give will also be limited.

If the patient is able, our treatment will be easy. So, patients will get better treatment,” he said.

In the 10^th Innovation Exhibition of Inventions and the 3^rd World Invention and Innovation Forum 2018, Prof. Madya Dr. Mohd Yazid also received a special award from Germany and Singapore.