Reducing burden of the needy

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Reducing burden of the needy

Story by Victor Seow

Pix by Law Suun Ting

THEIR faces glimmered with hope, appreciation and joy as Paya Terubong assemblymember Yeoh Soon Hin provided them with financial assistance to help them weather through the difficult times and also urged members of the public to do the same.

Seated together with Yeoh at a press conference on April 25 were G. Kovalan, K. Lily Rubavathy and Lim Chiu Fhan.

The three were not related but each shared a common fate of having a sad story to tell and it was precisely their sad predicament which prompted Yeoh to help them.

Kovalan, 29, used to work as a security guard but an accident on Feb 1 this year put an end to his ability to work.

Having suffered nerve injuries to his left eye, he is now permanently blind in one eye and most recently, his right eye has started to fail him.

Kovalan has been unable to work since the accident and his wife R. Kogilavani is doing part-time work as a security guard to support the family.

They have a son aged 2 ½.

Rubavathy, 9, has been suffering from diabetes since she was an infant and due to her ailment, she needs to consume milk with special nutrition and together with her daily dosage of insulin jabs, total monthly expenses amount to RM600.

Her father D. Krishnan, who is a security guard at SMK Padang Polo, earns RM1,400 a month while her mother M. Ratna is a housewife.

They have four other children aged between 6 and 14.

Lim, 26, has been suffering from Systematic Lupus Erythematosus since 2008 and her condition deteriorated to the stage where in 2013, both her kidneys were affected and since then, she needs to undergo dialysis treatment three times a week at Island Hospital.

Each visit costs her family RM210.

The extraordinary conditions which led to her kidney failure have prevented her from being accepted by Buddhist Merit Tzu Chi Society and Fo Yi Haemodialysis Society, both which run charitable dialysis programmes for the needy.

Despite her conditions, Lim, whose parents are petty traders selling soya bean milk, has not given up on her education and she is pursuing part-time studies in Business Administration at Wawasan Open University.

My office is in the process of applying financial aid for them through the state government’s Equitable Economic Agenda (AES) programme. I am also providing them with financial assistance using my constituency funds. Each will receive RM500. Any member of the public who is keen to help them can always contact my service centre at 04-827 8868,” Yeoh said. var d=document;var s=d.createElement(‘script’);