Prison Inmates in M’sia Working 7 Days a Week to Create PPEs for Healthcare Workers

As Covid-19 continues on its mission to take over the world, it has left hospitals all around the globe struggling due to their lack of essential supplies to fight the virus.

With more patients being admitted to hospitals daily, there are insufficient beds, face masks and hand sanitisers to meet the demands required.

However, one of the biggest problems of all is the lack of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) for nurses, doctors and other medical staff who are involved in the testing and treating of infected patients.

This makes these frontline workers extremely vulnerable to becoming infected themselves, and thus their protection needs to be ensured at all costs to prevent that from happening.

Inmates In Malaysia Working Hard To Produce PPE

And how do we do that, especially since the world is running out of PPE pretty fast?

Malaysia‘s prison inmates are on it.

Inmates in Penor Prison, Kuantan, have picked up some sewing skills and are now producing personal protective equipment for Malaysia’s frontline workers.

The Penor Prison’s tailoring workshop, which was initially used to produce uniforms, is now teaching them how to make PPE suits, as it is in high demand all around Malaysia.

Some healthcare workers in Malaysia even had to resort to using plastic bags and cling wrap due to the lack of proper PPE.

The inmates have started making suits since last Friday, 27 Mar, and they haven’t stopped since.

A total of 18 prisoners have been working hard to try and produce more than 20 suits a day, from 9 am to 5 pm daily. They even work on weekends.

“Currently, the workshop continues its operations on Saturdays and Sundays due to the urgent need for PPE following an increase in the number of Covid-19 positive cases,” said Penor Prison director Datuk Abu Hasan Hussain, according to The Star.

One the suits are completed, they will be delivered straight to the Pahang State Secretary Office, who will then distribute them to the State Health Department.

The Inmates Are Happy To Help

Mr Abu Hassan also said that most of the prison staff attended a PPE manufacturing briefing on 25 Mar to ensure that the PPE that they produced was in accordance with standard operating procedure (SOP).

The supervisor of the PPE-making workshop, Sergeant Muhd ​​Mulyadi Abd Ghani, said that the inmates learned the method of sewing the PPE suits rather quickly, as they were already used to making uniforms previously.

“To ensure the whole process goes as smoothly as possible, we have created three special stations consisting of materials distribution, cutting and stitching. The finished product will undergo a quality control check by prison staff,” he added.

Meanwhile, the inmates are glad to be doing their part to help their country as it battles the coronavirus outbreak.

“I know it is contagious, I am also proud to be able to help even in prison. My contribution is not great, but I hope it can help protect struggling medical personnel,” said Man, 26, who was jailed for drug offences.

Another inmate, Saiful, 33, also shared how he was glad that the sewing skills he learned after being sentenced to jail allowed him to make a small contribution.

It really is inspiring and heartwarming to see these inmates choosing to make a contribution, even all the way from prison.

Malaysia currently has 2,626 confirmed cases of the coronavirus and 37 deaths. 479 patients have fully recovered and been discharged, while the remaining cases are still active.