KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 10 — All it took was 17 minutes, and Syed Azmi Alhabshi and his group of fellow volunteers were able to raise enough money via Facebook to buy a hospital bed for a cervical cancer patient.

The young activist, made famous after his run-in with the authorities over last year’s Pet-A-Dog event for Muslims, said all he did was post the woman’s plight on the social media site and within minutes, pledges poured in.

“I asked on Facebook, people responded and that’s how we managed to get her a bed in 17 minutes,” he said when contacted.

On Saturday, Syed Azmi posted a picture of a forlorn-looking woman in a neck brace lying on what appears to be a long wooden table used to market wares.

He wrote: “This 34-year-old lady is in need of a hospital bed. She is one of the flood victims in Manek Urai. Until this very moment, she is still living under a hut.

“She have cervical c6/c6 c6/c7 disc prolapsed with cervical myelopathy. In English it means PAIN!”

He also urged his followers to help raise funds by bidding for a date with him in the “I want to date Syed Azmi” auction on Facebook by the Rakyat4Rakyat non-governmental group.

“So this is my pledge, the bidding money to date me would be use to purchase the hospital bed. 100% for this girl,” he wrote further.

“So please, bid me. The cause is genuine, the cause is necessary. Anybody, just bid a dinner date with me and I be at my best!

“I may be a laughing stock now, but generally I am upset. This girl must be in the same condition ever since, why till now no help?! So please, I beg you, do bid. If not for dinner, do it for this girl. Please,” he wrote.

The “I want to date Syed Azmi” auction hosted by Rakyat4Rakyat (People for people) ended yesterday with the highest bid at RM1,500. Malay Mail Online understands that a total of RM3,100 was collected in the auction.

The top three bidders will go on a “date” with Syed Azmi at a soon-to-be determined date.

Syed Azmi, who earned the wrath of Islamic religious groups here last year for organising a pet-a-dog session for Muslims, has since bounced back to kick off a recent successful donation and delivery drive to aid disaster victims in flood-struck states on the peninsula’s east coast.

The effort began with him wondering on Facebook last November how to get a helicopter to help fly in supplies for those stranded by floodwaters, prompting a response from a US firm, Solaire, which offered to fly him in one of their choppers to deliver aid direct to Marang, Terengganu.