SEPANG, Feb 4 — Malaysian aid organisation #OpsHarapan today shipped out 2.4 tonnes worth of medical supplies ranging from face masks and gloves to goggles donated by the public in an effort to help Wuhan city in China battling against the novel coronavirus named 2019-nCoV.
Its founder Ng Yeen Seen said the total collection comprises 338,000 surgical masks valued at about RM338,000; 540 N95 face masks worth RM4,320; 107,900 rubber gloves with the value of RM32,370, as well as 876 safety goggles worth RM34,922.
“The total value of the goods donated are RM409,612 or 696,340 yuan in 287 cartons which weigh about 2,400kg,” she told reporters at MASkargo headquarters here this afternoon.
She said the shipping cost will be footed by MASkargo and Yunda Express.
She added that there may be a second round of supply aid as #OpsHarapan is still accepting monetary donations, which will be used to buy additional medical supplies to help Wuhan fight the outbreak which has infected thousands in China and trapped about 11 million people in the city.
“We are very happy that MASkargo could help us, a grassroot NGOs with no professionals.
“The monetary donation would be used to buy more medical supplies,” Ng said.
She said that the goods will be loaded onto a cargo aircraft with the flight code MH386, which will deliver the supplies to the Shanghai Pudong International Airport before being delivered and distributed to the Yunda Express Shanghai warehouse.
Yunda Express, a multinational transport company, will then coordinate with the local Chinese authorities to send the supplies to Wuhan and Hubei province hospitals.
MASkargo chief executive officer Ibrahim Mohamed Salleh said the company was only doing its part to provide relief efforts in the ongoing global health scare.
“Our logistics support network has allowed us to move efficiently and in quick time to help those in need.
“In MASkargo we operate on one magic word, empathy. With empathy, we can channel human kindness,” he said.
Ibrahim said MASkargo was used to provide logistical support in the past, citing its experiences in sending relief aid to other crises like last month’s Australian bushfire and the Taal volcano eruption in the Philippines as well as the 2018 Japan earthquakes and as far back as the 2004 Indonesian tsunami.
Yunda Express Malaysia executive director Datuk Luke Low Choon Pheng indicated that it may take a while for the supplies to reach their destinations due to the ongoing lockdown in Hubei province.
“We have to be very vigilant and everything should be on the list. We have to the names of the donors as they will know that their donation will reach the hospitals that needed it in Wuhan,” he said.
On January 26, #OpsHarapan had announced on its Facebook page its intention to coordinate donation in cash and in specific medical supplies to fight the coronavirus and requested the public to connect them to medical supply manufacturers.
It announced a donation drive on January 29 and disclosed the bank account details yesterday.
Members of the public interested in sending monetary donations can do so at #OpsHarapan’s CIMB Bank account numbered 8009036921.
