Kota Bharu, Apr 20 (Sin Chew Daily) — A Chinese Malaysian working in China has bought personal protective equipment (PPE) from China for Hospital Sultan Ismail Petra in Kuala Krai, Kelantan.

Pu Zhi Wen, from Kuala Krai, has been working in China for close to five years. After learning from an ex-classmate that the hospital in Kuala Krai was short of PPEs, he made up his mind to raise fund with friends in Malaysia and personally source for reliable producers in China.

Pu liaised with the hospital to inspect the quality of PPEs before making the purchase commitment and shipping them home by air having raised more than RM30,000.

He purchased a total of 450 sets. However, due to custom clearance and logistics issues, he had to ship 250 sets to Kuala Krai first, and the remaining 200 sets would be sent later.

In an interview, Pu said his friends in Kelantan and China had responded overwhelmingly to his call to fund the purchase of PPEs for the hospital.

"We raised a total of RM32,000 (approximately US$7,289) in just two days. I initially budgeted for only 100 sets but we eventually managed to have 450 sets!" he said.

Pu thanked one of his friends Wong Si Jia who raised most of the fund within such a short period of time.

He pointed out that he learned from his friends on March 26 that the hospital in Kelantan was short of PPEs, so he began to look for reliable manufacturers to buy from.

Coincidentally, on a business trip from Xi'an to Tianjin, he learned of a protective clothing manufacturer in Tianjin. To make sure the product meets the requirements, he personally visited the factory and discussed via video conferencing with a doctor from the Kuala Krai hospital in order to perform a penetration test on the product. 

At the same time, he also assisted non-governmental organizations in Johor to purchase 100 sets of isolation gowns and 400 sets of PPEs to be sent to a hospital in the state.

Pu hopes everyone would help one another in time of need. To him, this is the best way to say "thank you" to our dedicated frontliners.