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Sri Lanka Relief Fund Update |
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Thursday, 28 May 2009 |
A Malaysian humanitarian organisation has
succeeded in providing aid to displaced communities in Sri Lanka where
others are still struggling to gain access.
“We have been extremely lucky to be given the
opportunity by the Sri Lankan authorities to work in Manik Farm, where
we first went to work equipping four 40-foot containers into health
posts, which were handed over to the Sri Lanka Ministry of Healthcare
and Nutrition on May 8,” MERCY Malaysia Acting President Dr Ahmad
Faizal Perdaus said in a statement.
KUALA LUMPUR, WEDNESDAY, MAY 27, 2009 – A Malaysian humanitarian organisation has succeeded in providing aid to displaced communities in Sri Lanka where others are still struggling to gain access.
MERCY Malaysia (www.mercy.org.my), a non-profit organisation, has been working among the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Manik Farm since mid-April, setting up health infrastructure to cater to for some 40,000 people.
“We have been extremely lucky to be given the opportunity by the Sri Lankan authorities to work in Manik Farm, where we first went to work equipping four 40-foot containers into health posts, which were handed over to the Sri Lanka Ministry of Healthcare and Nutrition on May 8,” MERCY Malaysia Acting President Dr Ahmad Faizal Perdaus said in a statement.
“We are happy and humbled to note that this clinic model is currently being used as a benchmark for other international aid agencies to follow,” he added.
Each health post is equipped with outpatient and in-patient facilities including an outpatient room, a pharmacy, a medical screening counter and transit beds. The four health posts are serving a total of 150,000 IDPs.
Dr Faizal said that the number of sick and wounded is growing every day as more and more people are arriving at the camp.
“We have been receiving reports that many men and women at the camp have untreated war wounds and about 60 per cent of children are malnourished.”
Various international reports quoting aid workers in Sri Lanka have said that the injuries and emotional trauma were amongst the worst they had seen.
“Apart from the four health posts, we are also in the process of equipping a central health post that will serve about 50,000 people as the second phase of our programme,” said Dr Faizal, adding that the central health post should be functional by the third week of June.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) is providing the structure while MERCY Malaysia will set-up and equip the facility with electricity as well water and sanitation supplies.
Dr Faizal explained that MERCY Malaysia had actively engaged the local authorities and beneficiaries as part of maintaining accountability and transparency.
He also said that MERCY Malaysia remained committed to the Sri Lankan people as long as there are available funds.
“This could be a challenge as the Sri Lanka Relief Fund that we launched a month ago has garnered much public interest but not as much in terms of financial support.
“To date, we have only secured RM11,000, thus we are appealing to the public to assist our work among the war survivors and donate to the Sri Lanka Relief Fund as our own emergency funds which have used for the current projects will be exhausted very soon,” he said.
Please contact the Communications and Fundraising Department at 03-2273 3999 or email
This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
for more information. For donations to the Sri Lanka Relief Fund, please make cheques payable to:
MERCY MALAYSIA (CIMB Account No : 1424-000-6561053) or MERCY HUMANITARIAN FUND (MAYBANK Account No : 5621 7950 4126)
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