BUKIT MERTAJAM: The Persatuan Kebajikan Haemodialisis St Anne at Bukit Mertajam (PKHSA) is organizing a charity dinner on May 28 to raise funds for the cost of renovation and the purchase of new dialysis machines. Themed I am a Lifeline to Kidney Patients, the dinner will be held at the St Anne's Hall, Bukit Mertajam, at 7.30pm.

The Chief Minister of Penang is invited to the dinner. Dinner tickets are being sold by members of the organizing committee who are mostly from the parish Chinese Apostolate Team and PKHSA Team. The PKHSA is run by the Church of St Anne, under the patronage of Bishop Antony Selvanayagam.

The late Michael Ng Seng Hock was the person who first initiated the idea of setting up a dialysis centre, at the time when Fr Michael Cheah was the parish priest. In 2002, the late Michael Ng, together with three parishioners visited two dialysis centres, one in Simpang Ampat and one in Bukit Mertajam to get an idea on how to run the centre.

They also sought the advice of Bro Anthony Rogers fsc of the Catholic Welfare Service, KL. Originally known as Pusat Haemodialisis St Anne, BM, PKHSA started operation on 9 Aug. 2002, with an interest free loan of RM300,000 from St Anne’s church. The loan was fully settled by 2005.

The Centre is housed at two shoplots at 11 &11A, Tingkat Maju, Pusat Perniagaan Maju Jaya, Bukit Mertajam. The official opening was on 9 Feb 2003. Presently, there are 11 dialysis machines, serving 30 patients. The patients come from all walks of life, non Catholics included. These patients come from Bukit Mertajam and the neighbouring towns as well.

The majority of them are in the 50 - 70 years age group. They are from the lower income group and are charged only RM50 per treatment. Consideration is given to those who really can't afford to pay. Johnny Ong, PKHSA chairperson, said apart from promoting goodwill and community spirit through social and welfare services of the church, PKHSA’s objectives is also to heed the call of Jesus Christ and the government to promote a caring society.

“PKHSA is registered with the Registrar of Societies and the Ministry of Health. It has been given tax exemption status,” informed Ong. “As PKHSA is charity-oriented, we depend solely on donations. Therefore campaigns for donations are on-going throughout the year.” One novel way of getting funds started by PKHSA is the membership programme. Membership is open to those above 18 years, residing in BM and Prai.

Each member has to pay a monthly subscription of RM10. However, there are members and non-members who pledge to donate a fixed sum monthly or yearly. Presently, there are about 182 Catholic members and 98 non Catholic members. Other sources of income include donations from the public.

The Chinese temples give RM500 to RM1,000 periodically, and one Chinese temple donated a dialysis machine. There were a few more dialysis machines donated by the public and two from the Penang Diocese. The dialysis machines need maintenance, especially after a period of five years. It is more viable to replace them after a period of eight years. The idea of expanding PKHSA was mooted in 2009 when Msgr Stephen Liew was the parish priest.

The expansion project includes expanding the building to another two adjoining shop-lots and obtaining more dialysis machines (aim to have 25 machines) that would be able to service about 80 renal patients (from the present 30). Work on the expansion project started at the end of 2010 when Fr Henry Rajoo took over as the parish priest of St Anne’s Church. Renovation is now almost completed. The estimated cost of renovation and the purchase of 5 more dialysis machines is about RM500,000. For further information, please contact Johnny Ng (0124532652), or Joseph Lim (0124597198). — By Lucia Lai