Orphans sacrifice sleep to make PPE for frontliners

PETALING JAYA: The lack of personal protective equipment (PPE) among hospital staff in the country has attracted the attention of many people.

Apart from renowned fashion designer Datuk Radzuan Radziwill, the residents of the Rumah Pengasih Warga Prihatin (RPWP) in Kajang, Selangor, have also been the talk of many for their initiative in making the equipment.

According to co-founder of RPWP, Saiful Nang, he is grateful that the orphans who have been making the PPE for the frontliners are getting attention from the people.

mStar, The Star's Malay-language portal, reported Saiful as saying that they had manufactured and distributed 17,000 face shields and were now working on making PPE from 52km of fabric for the frontline staff battling the Covid-19 disease.

He said that the orphans were sacrificing their sleep to meet the needs of the medical personnel, although their fatigue could not be compared to that of the frontliners.

"We only have to sacrifice rest and sleep, but our frontliners sacrifice their lives. It is exhausting, but it nothing compared to the frontliners who had to use plastic sheaths as PPE... we were sad," he said in a Facebook post on Tuesday (April 7).

He added that there was a lot of requests for the PPE from all over the country, with Sungai Buloh Hospital itself needing up to 7,000 sets a day.

“How can we let our officers fight without armour?" he said.

He also asked the public to support the PPE Pelangi Project for frontliners by making donations at www.projekpelangi.com.

"Let's support this project, with what we have. Give how much you can but let’s all together give to the nation," he said.

Saiful Nang also shared a 2-minute 55-second video on Facebook to display the efforts of RPWP residents in making the PPE.