Company makes masks, donates to hospital

By Joshua Mani
A TAILOR in Port Moresby has joined efforts to avoid coronavirus reaching families and communities by producing cloth masks as an alternative to those sold in shops to protect against the spread of the virus.
Manager of Titip Tailoring Roseanne Wayne said the cloth masks would help prevent the spread of diseases such as influenza and tuberculosis which the coronavirus would capitalise on.
Thirty of the masks would be donated to nurses at the Port Moresby General Hospital today.
Wayne said she decided to make a donation to the nurses after they enquired about buying the masks.
“They called and wanted to make an order but after learning that they were nurses, I told them not to pay,” she said.
“They work at the frontline and this donation would go in a long way to help them.
“It (the masks) is more to protect the other person from catching diseases which will put them at a higher risk of succumbing to coronavirus.”
Wayne said the masks were 100 per cent cotton fabric sewn in double layers and it was easy to breathe through it.
Wayne said she sewed it for her family to use but after her husband posted pictures of it on Facebook, people started placing orders.
As of Thursday, she sold 34 masks.
The masks are being sold at K10 each.
She said she was capable of producing 19 masks a day and had plans to recruit women and girls from the Tokorara Christian Fellowship to help sew more masks as orders were increasing.
Wayne said she had trained some women at the church to sew the masks and would train some more to help.
She said the money the women made would go to the church’s women’s fellowship. Wayne said the masks were not scientifically or legally approved as an equipment to guard against coronavirus.
She encouraged people to continue buying the masks sold at pharmacies.
She said the masks were an alternative. Titip Tailoring said in its Facebook page: “Wearing masks should not take the place of hand washing and social distancing. Masks must be washed before using and then thereafter. Masks are not mandatory.”