Aid disbursement to children who lost parents to COVID-19 to be expedited

KUALA LUMPUR: The government through the Malaysian Family Foundation will expedite the handing over of assistance to children who have lost either both their mother and father, or have lost one of their parents to COVID-19.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob said the one-off assistance was to help the children from school to university level.

"I have told the Chief Secretary to the Government (Tan Sri Mohd Zuki Ali), we will pay directly to the recipients (nationwide) to ease their burden," he told reporters after handing over the assistance to 42 recipients at the World Trade Centre Kuala Lumpur (WTC KL) here today.

Also present were Rural Development Minister Datuk Seri Mahdzir Khalid, Federal Territories Minister Datuk Seri Shahidan Kassim and Higher Education Minister Datuk Seri Dr Noraini Ahmad.

Meanwhile, a recipient, Khairil Rizal, 42, who lost his wife due to COVID-19 last August, said he was now looking after his three children aged 13, 10 and six.

"Thank you for this assistance, it just so happens that the school is about to open, all my children are already in school, the cost is high...last year I spent almost RM2,000 for the children's schooling.

"Before this, I did an online business with my wife, but since she's gone, our income has been affected. My wife was a category five patient, she had to be intubated and was hospitalised for a month," he told Bernama.

Ernah Tokol, 32, who lost her husband Mohd Affendi Amir Hamzah, 35, last September was thankful for the aid, saying it would help ease her financial burden.

The mother of four said the money would come in useful for the purchase of school items for her children.

-- BERNAMA