KUALA LUMPUR: Media Prima Palestinian Humanitarian Fund today donated RM500,000 to help Palestinians in Gaza through the Malaysian Relief Agency (MRA), today.
This is the second round of donations after Media Prima donated RM200,000 to the same non-governmental organisation (NGO) between March and May this year.
MRA president Dr Mohd Daud Sulaiman estimated over 30,000 Palestinians, especially 20,000 of them in Gaza would benefit from this donation.
“We have successfully reached and disbursed assistance to over 5,000 people in Gaza after we received the first round of donations earlier this year.
“Previously, we focused our assistance in helping them through the winter season, by providing basic hygiene necessities, as well as locally tailored sweaters and spectacles for their students.
“This time, we will expand our assistance to necessities such as providing them with food baskets, medical equipment to brave the Covid-19 pandemic as well as cooking-stoves,” he told the press when met at the NTV7 studio in Glenmarie, today.
The donation and material assistance will be distributed by MRA’s counterparts in Gaza, as well as through cooperation with few others Palestinian NGOs.
“Looking at the current Covid-19, we managed our distribution remotely by actively cooperating with the NGOs over there.
“We hold off from sending our crew physically to Gaza as we do not want to take the risk of bringing back any Covid-19 variants into our countries and Gaza as well.”
Dr Daud said the NGOs are in discussion to resume an old doctoral training programme sometime this year.
“We have conducted Gaza-Palestine Doctoral Training with the cooperation of our Health Ministry, UKM Specialist Centre (UKMSC) together with the Palestine authorities in 2012 till 2013.
“We’ve trained four Palestinian doctors to become specialists through that programme, and they are now serving the Palestinian people on the ground during this attacks by the Zionist regime.
“Apart from assisting with their infrastructure, we see this programme as a way to help them in terms of human resources to serve their people, especially now,” he said.
A RM500,000 mock check presented to Dr Daud by MPB strategic communications department manager Mahathir Mohd Sidi, earlier today.
The Media Prima Palestinian Humanitarian Fund was opened in November 2012 and reactivated on May 18 this year, following increased provocations and attacks on Palestinians in Gaza by the Zionist regime.
Members of the public can continue to contribute to the Media Prima Palestine Humanitarian Fund through Maybank account number 564276510331.