KUCHING, June 11: The Catholic Church in Sarawak is supporting the fight against Covid-19 by donating personal protective equipment (PPE) to medical frontliners.
The effort to help medical frontliners started last year when Catholic Archbishop Simon Poh made the appeal through livestreamed Sunday Masses to procure PPE SMS isolation gowns and KN95 face masks for medical use in hospitals.
“With the generous contribution from Catholics and friends through Sarawak, Malaysia and even overseas, we were able to raise the fund needed to procure 10,000 pieces of KN95 face masks and 6,200 pieces of SMS isolation medical gowns for hospitals,” said Poh in a statement today.
Together with Bishop Joseph Hii of Sibu and Bishop Richard Ng of Miri, the Catholic Church in Sarawak offered the PPE as a small gesture of support and prayer for the safety of medical frontliners who are serving throughout Sarawak.
“May God protect and bless you and your family as you serve our community in Sarawak,” said Poh, who is also Association of Churches in Sarawak (ACS) chairman.
He said the Church had written to State Disaster Management Committee chairman Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas regarding this donation.
“I would like to thank (Local Government and Housing Minister Dato Sri) Dr Sim Kui Hian and the Sarawak General Hospital Director Dr Ngian Hie Ung for making the arrangement to receive the PPE gowns and face masks.”
Poh added that “every little bit contributes to the common good for all people”, and also took the opportunity to express his gratitude to Alan Tay and Kevin Chin who volunteered staff and vehicles to transfer the 76 cartoons of PPE gowns and masks from the church to the hospital.
“As chairman of the Association of Churches in Sarawak, standing here right in front of the Blood Bank, I echo the appeal of our hospital and encourage all Christians and friends of goodwill to give blood to save lives.
“In public, maintain the safety SOP (standard operating procedure), wear masks at all time, minimise points of contact and social circles. By working together, we believe that we can flatten the infection curve during this crucial week in Sarawak,” said Poh. — DayakDaily
