25-Year-Old Starts NGO To Help Refugees And The Underprivileged Get Medical Treatment
Over 3,000 families have been impacted since the birth of non-profit organisation, Doctors on Ground.
By Tamara Jayne — 26 Apr 2022, 12:01 PM — Updated about 2 years ago
It's easy to forget the privilege many of us have when it comes to receiving medical aid
Not everyone has the financial stability, let alone the ability, to simply walk into a clinic or hospital whenever they're sick.
Doctors on Ground (DnG), a medical non-profit organisation, seeks to bridge the gap that many marginalised communities in Malaysia face with medical care.
The brainchild of the organisation is Arissa Jemaima, a 25-year-old student who is passionate about public health and human rights
As a student of international relations and international law, Arissa would often volunteer with NGOs around Malaysia.
"Most of the time, these projects were all on a touch-and-go basis: you send aid once with no intention or plan to follow-up on the assistance. Where is the element of sustainability and transparency in that?" she lamented, which inspired her to start her own organisation.
DnG is made up of a diverse team of medical and non-medical volunteers, who are both professionals and full-time students
Working alongside Arissa is chief medical officer Dr Jeevitha Brama Kumar and DnG's primary medical officer Dr Aravind Giri, who frontlines the medical missions mobilised by DnG.
Since its inception in April 2021, DnG has organised over 50 healthcare and community-based projects across Peninsula Malaysia and Borneo, and over 3,000 families have benefitted from its aid.
Due to the pandemic, DnG initially began with home consultations and community clinics in Selayang.
The aim was to help Rohingya and Myanmar-Muslim families who often have difficulty accessing and financing their healthcare, especially those who suffer from chronic illnesses that require long term follow-up and medication supplies.
With the help of ordinary Malaysians and other generous funders, the non-profit organisation was able to carry out its missions, procure medications, and even pay for hospital bills for those requiring urgent healthcare.
Since its launch, the organisation has gained a tremendous amount of support, from specialists and medical doctors to medical students alike
"What sets us apart from others is our element of sustainability. We do not delve into one-off projects for the sake of publicity, but rather stay for the long haul. That means going down to the ground on a regular basis and doing the hard work, like following-up on chronic and complicated cases," Jeevitha shared.
Having worked with different communities across Malaysia in the past three years, one recent incident really stood out for Arissa
"The first community that I ever interacted with was a Rohingya and Myanmar-Muslim one in Selayang. There, I worked very closely with a group of women, who were refugees, and were engaged with the leadership programmes that were being run by my NGO at that time," she shared with SAYS.
"One woman, in particular, has experienced a lot of hardship in the past month: her husband is incarcerated and her children are forced to stop school. Yet, two weeks ago, she submitted a case of a recently migrated family from Arakan, [Myanmar] needing UNHCR registration. While this fell under her responsibility as a case worker, we've put a pause considering her current situation.
"I told her that I'd follow-up on the case, and asked her to take it slow — she's also dealing with some serious medical concerns. Her only reply was 'Cikgu tolong kita, kita tolong orang lain.' (She's referred to me as 'Cikgu' since the first time we met.)"
Arissa explained that it's things like these that really make it all truly worth it.
In the long run, she hopes that DnG is able to become financially sustainable, so they can start accommodating other needs like hiring and paying skilled staff to run its operations, mobilising more aid to communities, and establishing physical care centres in their rural locations.
This would also allow the team to look into developing research and data systems to help formulate better policies for government and NGO bodies alike.
At the moment, DnG is run with the help of Malaysians
"[Since] the beginning, a majority of our campaigns and patient projects have been financed by the average follower who'd donate a range of RM10 to RM200 whenever we called for aid.
"When they interact with us, whether through social media or in-person, it allows us to expand our cause to different industries. One of the best engagements is when someone refers us to a networking or grant opportunity that they were able to connect to within their own personal networks. By opening that circle up to us, it gives DnG the ability to operate on a stronger support system."
To find out more about Doctors on Ground, follow them on social media: Facebook and Instagram.
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