Siti
KOTA KINABALU: The Ministry of Community Development and Consumer Affairs will look into the plight of five-year-old Siti Aryani Zainah, to see how it can help her family in dealing with her diseases.
Aryani suffers from chronic respiratory lung disease and Vitamin D dependent Rickets type D.
The child from Kampung Melalin, Tuaran relies on a ventilator in order to survive but her family’s wooden house does not have access to electricity needed to power the equipment.
“The issue is really with regard to her need for a decent house so the appropriate agency would be the district office concerned.
“However, my ministry through the Department of Public Welfare Services (JPKA) most probably could look into assisting the family with the ventilator if necessary,” said Azizah when contacted yesterday.
Azizah in an SMS reply to The Borneo Post, said her ministry would gather the details on the family for further action.
It was reported on Tuesday that Aryani was admitted to the Women and Children’s Hospital in Likas in October 2008 and was declared stable to be discharged since August 2009.
However, the little girl who is able to be on her own without the help of a ventilator for only a few hours at a time could not go home due to the poor condition of her house.
Desperate to provide a better home for her, the father applied for a PPRT house with the help of a friend in 2009 but was asked to wait for another year as all the units allocated for the year have been taken.
In February the following year, the family was asked to prepare the relevant documents and the site for the PPRT house, so they demolished the dilapidated wooden house they were staying in to give way for the construction of the new house.
Unfortunately, after submitting the documents they still had to wait for the allocation to be given, and eventually in 2011 decided to build the house themselves.
However, due to financial constraint, the family could only build a 16′ x 20′ box-like brick house that has no kitchen or toilet, and even that took them almost a year to finish.
While building the house, the father, with the help from Agape Care and Crisis Relief Services Association of Sabah, applied for a PPRT flat, which was approved by the Tuaran District Office.
However, the unit given to them was on the second floor where a handicapped or sickly person was not allowed to stay due to practicality and convenience issues.
According to the association, the family still needed around RM10,000 to fully complete their house and to connect it with electricity and power supplies.