The Perak Parkinson's Association hopes to create greater awareness regarding the disease and expand its activities.
VIDEO INSIDE
IPOH: There is little awareness in the country about Parkinson’s disease and this could mainly be due to sufferers being too embarrassed to come forward.
Perak Parkinson’s Association (PPA) president Samuel Ng said they were now reaching out to this group to help them and make them realise there are people out there who care for their condition.
“This is part of our mission,” he said.
The association helps those suffering from Parkinson’s to cope with the ill effects of the disease by giving them advice and conducting one-on-one exercise sessions.
In 2014, Malaysian Parkinson’s Disease Association (MPDA) president Sara Lew estimated about 50,000 people in the country showed symptoms of the disease. There are no official statistics as such.
PPA is trying to make the Perak government aware of the role it is playing in the hope it will get financial aid to expand its services.
Khor Kong Kee, who is the association’s treasurer and co-founder, said its training centre had not received any monetary support from the state government for its equipment or for the talks and forums they’ve held.
“We have our own fund-raising events and some generous people support us, but we have not received any funding from the government.”
He, however, stressed that this was not the government’s fault.
“The government has a different agenda. It is up to us to create greater awareness.”
Members come to the training centre from 9am to 1pm on weekdays, and join in activities for free.
“You only have to pay RM10 to be a member and then RM24 a year to renew your membership,” said Khor.
Famous people known to have suffered from Parkinson’s include Nazi Germany leader Adolf Hitler, professional boxer Muhammad Ali, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and actor Michael J Fox.
The views expressed in the contents are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of FMT.
lagi info di : Gosip Artis Terkini