MRA secretary-general Dr Shahrizal Azwan Samsudin said the NGO has handed out about RM7 million worth of medicine and RM4 million to RM5 million in food up to November.

“We have been entrusted with sending aid, so we have to do that to the best of our abilities.

“We bridge the gaps to make sure that no communitites – undocumented migrants, refugees and others – are left behind,” he said.

Shahrizal was speaking at a webinar titled “Protecting the Welfare of Communities during the MCO” organised by Hope Exhibition, a joint venture between the National Disaster Management Agency (Nadma), Universiti Pertahanan Nasional Malaysia – Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (UPNM-HADR), Tzu Chi Foundation and MyCare.

He noted that among the issues facing vulnerable communities during the Covid-19 pandemic were job loss, lack of opportunities for their children to study, and poor healthcare coverage.

The director of the Welfare Department’s Productive Welfare Unit, Che Samsuzuki Noh, said the department has distributed 799,583 food baskets to heads of households during the pandemic.

Valued at RM52.89 million, the aid packages have benefited 3.1 million people.

“There are still 54,000 baskets which we are sending out to communities in all states,” he said.

“Sabah has been the worst hit by the pandemic, and a lot of our efforts are concentrated in the state.”

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