Amid the government’s controversial decision to grant early release to some 30,000 prisoners to prevent COVID-19 outbreak in Indonesia’s notoriously overcrowded prisons, some inmates who are still behind bars have won praise for doing their part in the fight against the viral disease by providing healthcare workers with crucial protective equipment.
Related — Watch: Indonesian prisoners granted early release due to COVID-19 celebrate with TikTok video
As reported by Kompas, inmates at the Cibinong Penitentiary in Bogor regency are on track for producing at least 2,000 face shields to be distributed for free to 111 community clinics in the region — all with the help of online video tutorials.
“PPEs are scarce everywhere. There are video tutorials on how to make face shields on Youtube, so the prison’s medical officers gathered inmates to produce and distribute [face shields] to health facilities that are facing shortage of PPEs,” Cibinong Penitentiary medical officer Zukhraini Khadija said.
Zukhraini added that the inmates are capable of producing 200 face shields a day depending on the availability of materials.
PPE shortage amid the COVID-19 pandemic is well documented throughout Indonesia. Also in Bogor regency, photos of doctors and nurses at a community clinic went viral recently as they had to wear single-use plastic raincoats to treat patients due to a shortage of standardized protective equipment.
