KUANTAN: Inmates in 12 prisons throughout the country are making personal protective equipment (PPE) for healthcare workers managing Covid-19 patients.
Deputy Home Minister I Datuk Seri Dr Ismail Mohamed Said said all sewing workshops in these prisons were giving priority to making PPEs because of the urgent need for them now.
“This is the initiative of the Prisons Department to help lighten the burden on the government in handling the Covid-19 issue, as well to reduce the risk faced by these frontliners, especially the healthcare staff.
“We are grateful for the effort by the inmates who are working hard everyday to ensure adequate supply of PPE, and they are doing it voluntarily,” he said.
Ismail was speaking to Bernama after visiting the sewing workshop at the Penor Prison here yesterday. Also present were director of Pahang Prisons, Datuk Ab Basir Mohamad and director of Penor Prison, Datuk Abu Hasan Hussain.
He said the effort by these prisons had the support of their state governments which contributed the material and distributed the PPEs to the hospitals.
“We are also grateful for the positive response from the people who have contributed to the effort to make the PPEs. This kind of response will help lessen the stigma which is often associated with prison inmates, and hopefully, the public will accept them as they have repented,” he said.
Ismail said the skills the inmates learnt from the prisons would help them start a new life and many had said they intended to make sewing a source of income when they are released later. — Bernama