Tabung Kasih @ HAWANA Lightens Load, Motivates Ailing Media Practitioners

KOTA KINABALU, Oct 11 (Bernama) -- The Tabung Kasih @ HAWANA fund does more than cover treatment costs for ailing media practitioners; it lifts their morale and motivates them in life and their careers.

TV3 cameraman Mohammed Fairuz Mohammed Yazzer, 35, said the aid would help cover his medical needs and provide suitable insurance coverage.

He said his slipped disc problem began while he was on duty during the Sabah state election last year, and the pain worsened during the Kinabatangan by-election in January.

"Thank you to Tabung Kasih @ HAWANA for this assistance. I hope this fund will continue to help other media colleagues who are in dire need," he told Bernama.

He said this after receiving the aid from Deputy Communications Minister Teo Nie Ching at the Bernama Sabah Bureau Office, Ministry of Communications Integrated Complex here today, during her working visit to Sabah.

Also present were Bernama chief executive officer Datin Paduka Nur-ul Afida Kamaludin and Sabah Bureau chief Fadzli Ramli.

Mohammed Fairuz said his condition was identified as a slipped disc after an MRI during treatment for dengue in the middle of this year.

He said doctors initially recommended physiotherapy, but he is still in pain and awaiting further assessment from a specialist to determine the next course of treatment.

Meanwhile, Radio Televisyen Malaysia (RTM) programme producer Floris Philip, 54, who has a heart condition, said the aid helped with treatment costs and made her feel valued and cared for.

"It has restored the morale I had lost. With the pain I am going through, at least we feel that someone cares," said Floris, who has served at RTM for 33 years.

Another recipient, Kamarudin Abdullah, 46, also an RTM programme producer of 17 years, said the aid would help cover part of his medical costs after he was involved in a road accident.

He encouraged media practitioners facing health problems or misfortune to contact the Tabung Kasih @ HAWANA secretariat for information on assistance available.

"There is no shame in applying for aid to keep going in life and to continue working," he said.

Tabung Kasih @ HAWANA is a Ministry of Communications initiative established in conjunction with National Journalists' Day (HAWANA) in 2023.

The Malaysian National News Agency (Bernama) acts as the secretariat to coordinate the distribution of aid to media practitioners and veteran journalists in need.

To date, Tabung Kasih @ HAWANA has disbursed RM2.54 million to 864 media practitioners and veteran journalists, 37 of them from Sabah.

-- BERNAMA