Inmate training to counter virus spread

Inmates undergo training to become assistants to doctors and nurses in prison. The measure is aimed at dealing with the shortage of medical personnel in 143 prisons nationwide. Pattarapong Chatpattarasill

The Corrections Department on Wednesday launched a project to provide healthcare training for 50 inmates so they can help doctors and nurses care for ailing inmates should they come down with the coronavirus from Wuhan in China.

Pol Col Naras Savestanan, director-general of the department, said the inmates recruited from prisons nationwide would undergo the eight-day course at the Bangkok Remand Prison.

They would then return to their prisons to help care for ailing prisoners.

Pol Col Naras said the project was initiated to help deal with a shortage of medical staff in 143 prisons nationwide which are currently housing more than 380,000 prisoners.

As a result of overcrowding, when prisoners have to stay in close proximity to each other in crowded places, infections to the upper respiratory tract can spread easily.

"There are currently 314 Chinese inmates being detained in prisons nationwide and 14 who have just arrived.

"As far as we know they do not have the coronavirus but training inmates will help in the event of an outbreak," he said.

The 14 Chinese inmates are jailed in Samut Prakan, Phuket, Pathum Thani, Krabi and Songkhla.

However, his officials did not find any Chinese prisoners who had travelled from Wuhan where the coronavirus was first detected.

The department has also implemented precautionary measures to neutralise germs in prison cells and the canteen, and is monitoring the cleanliness on food, he said.

Weerakit Harnparipan, the department's director-general, said the department will hold the training for other inmates who are interested once the first batch have been trained.

Dr Weerakit said the course will carry on until authorities have achieved a ratio of one volunteer carer to 50 inmates.

Prisons will work with local hospitals to carry out the training, he said.

"This programme will help inmates take care of each other and gain knowledge in how to help people when they released," he said.