CURIOUS: Community leaders taking a closer look at examples of common drugs and paraphernalia in display cases at the ADK information booth.
FULLHOUSE: Good public response to the blood donation campaign.
HEALTH CHECKUP: Ministry of Health personnel conducting health screening on members of the public.
THANK YOU: Shamshudin (left) presenting a token of appreciation to a representative from ADK.
KUCHING: More than 1,000 individuals registered under the e-kasih database have been selected to participate in 2,000 projects under 1Azam which will commence next year.
Kuching Resident Abang Shamshudin Abang Seruji revealed this when met by reporters after officiating at a blood donation and health screening campaign yesterday.
“Kuching currently has almost 5,000 in the e-kasih database. Next year alone in Kuching Division we will implement almost 2,000 projects under e-kasih 1Azam programme.
“Kuching has the highest number – 1,000 plus – meaning that hardcore poverty is a significant issue here,” he said.
He pointed out that the state had made a lot of progress in tackling social issues such as urban and rural poverty, and that these issues were still largely manageable.
Nevertheless, Shamshudin, who was Sri Aman Resident and Sarawak Islamic Religious Department (Jais) director before assuming the post of Kuching Resident in July this year, emphasised that it was better to address these issues in the early stages before they got out of hand.
“Our biggest challenge is how to tackle social ills, particularly those involving youths. We are looking into how we can help them and hopefully by next year we will be able to come out with suitable programmes,” he said.
He added that his office was liaising with various government departments, agencies and non-governmental organisations to implement various programmes in the pipeline for next year.
“We are planning with the Ministry of Social Development to come up with a programme where we can help these youths to be in the job market through skills development or to become young entrepreneurs, so we are working out details with the ministry on this starting next year. We hope before yearend to start training these youth.
“For urban poor, we are working with other government agencies and NGOs like Society for Kuching Urban Poor (SKUP) to gather all the urban poor, particularly ladies to embark on viable projects such as baking, pastry and cake making, or tailoring,” the Resident said, explaining that the programmes are aimed at improving participants’ livelihood.
The blood donation and health screening campaign was carried out in the lobby of the Sarawak Islamic Complex, off Jalan P Ramlee.
The event was organised by Majlis Kebajikan dan Sukan Anggota-Anggota Kerajaan Sarawak (Maksak) Kuching Division in collaboration with Road Safety Department (JKJR), National Anti-Drug Agency (ADK), mobile blood donation unit from Serian Hospital and Ministry of Health personnel.
A spokesman for Maksak, who asked not to be identified, said this was the first time they had organised such an event, and their objective was to encourage a healthier lifestyle among members of the public.
“Our aim is to engage the community and raise awareness of health issues. For today, we have invited community leaders to come, and we hope to also involve office workers in this building as well as other members of the public,” the spokesperson said.
The one-day event was held from 9.30am to 4pm.