Old folk get new glasses from i-Care YKN
SRI AMAN: One-hundred senior citizens of Kampung Kalok in Pusa near here are set to have better sights soon, thanks to a programme funded by the Women, Family and Community Development Ministry.
The old folk had their eyes examined before picking the frames of their choice during the ministry’s ‘i- Care’ programme yesterday, held in collaboration with National Welfare Foundation ( YKN).
According to Women, Family and Community Development Minister Datuk Seri Rohani Abdul Karim, the i- Care YKN programme is held in line with the ‘Jelajah Negaraku’ campaign meant to reach out to the rural community.
“Under this programme, we hand out spectacles to senior citizens for free. They would have their eyes checked and then, they choose the frames that they prefer.
“In two weeks’ time, we will return with the 100 new spectacles for them,” she told reporters after launching the programme.
Rohani, who is also Batang Lupar MP, said the inaugural i- Care YKN programme took place in Sebuyau in August this year, with the same number of recipients.
“We want to fix it at 100 recipients at a time because it is easier for us to implement.
“About RM20,000 is spent for every programme so far. We want to do it in Batang Lupar first, and then improve the programme before expanding areas,” she said.
Rohani said i- Care YKN had received good response from the rural folk so far; some of those in Kampung Kalok had even requested for the programme to be extended to children.
“In Sebuyau, we had a mixed one ( programme) – for both senior citizens and the children. This time, we do it for only senior it to other citizens but some of them asked: ‘Why not for children?’
“We will have more of this programme in the future. I want to engage the private sector in this programme as part of fulfilling their CSR (corporate social responsibility),” she said.
Rohani added that her ministry would work on ‘bringing in some optical store operators’ to enhance the programme and eventually, benefit the rural community in other constituencies.
“This programme is well received by the people in the rural areas because it is both timeconsuming and costly for most of them to travel to town just to get a pair of spectacles.
“An elderly man whom I interacted with just now, also told me that he could see clearly with the spectacles and he liked it,” the minister said. parliamentary
Under this programme, we hand out spectacles to senior citizens for free. They would have their eyes checked and then, they choose the frames that they prefer. Datuk Seri Rohani Abdul Karim, Women, Family and Community Development Minister