Materia Medica Malaysiana

Mercy Malaysia Needs RM1.5 Million For Relief Mission To Sudan

KUALA LUMPUR, July 30 (Bernama) -- What does a Malaysian get with RM5 today? A plate of nasi lemak and teh tarik perhaps? Or simply the fee for parking in some area of Kuala Lumpur?

In Sudan, with RM5 one can provide a malnourished child with therapeutic feeding for a day which includes milk and nutrients.

This was told to the media by Malaysian Medical Relief Society (Mercy Malaysia) president Datuk Dr Jemilah Mahmood Friday.

She said her organisation had been requested by the United Nations (UN) agencies to lend medical assistance to the country's Internal Displaced People (IDP).

"Basically we need about RM200 monthly to treat one malnourished child, and RM1.5 million to have and run a decent therapeutic feeding centre for six months," she said during a media briefing on Mercy Malaysia's six-month relief mission to the war-torn African country, beginning next month.

She said with that amount of money, Mercy Malaysia could treat at least 180,000 Sudanese at IDP camps in El-Geneina, west Darfur region.

At present the town was populated by 1.2 million of IDPs with 88 percent of them without shelter and 75 percent are children and women.

"According to the United Nations agencies, 10,000 people are expected to die by next month if they still cannot get access to basic medical supply," she said adding that most roads to the region were inaccessible at this time of the year due to the damage caused by rain.

Dr Jemilah said Mercy Malaysia would send a team of four people this Monday, to assess the situation in the city.

"We will make preparations on what is needed based on their report, and where we are actually going because the camps cover a large area, and we need to be where we are needed most," she said.

Six relief missions would be sent to the country from next month till February next year, involving about 60 Mercy Malaysia staff and volunteers, with the first team to be deployed in mid August, said Dr Jemilah.

"We appeal to Malaysian medical staff and practitioners to be our volunteers. This will be a good learning experience for them because we are going to deal with the condition of malnourishment, a condition we don't have here," she said.

These six teams, said Dr Jemilah, were to establish a basic therapeutic feeding centre as well as to provide primary health care.

"If we can, we will continue with the second phase which is to provide mental health care as well as strengthening the basic health care system," she said.

People interested in making donations or who wish to be volunteers can call 03-42569999, 012-9162579 or 019-6366595. Donations are tax exempted.

-- BERNAMA