Wheelchair for amputee

■Aid for the needy: Sukir using the new wheelchair. With him are Ooi (right) and Sarkuru.

SUKIR Kasbani, whose right leg was recently amputated after it became gangrenous, has to remain outside his low-cost flat in Jalan Mohd Saad, Butterworth, for more than eight hours a day. His son Ahmad Firdaus, 24, would carry him down from their unit on the third floor of the walk-up flat block before going to work.

The 65-year-old retired factory operator would only be able to go back home when his son returned from work in the evening. “This has been my daily routine since my leg was amputated last month,” he said after receiving a wheelchair donated by the Rotary Club of Butterworth on Friday.

Sukir said he hoped the state authorities would help him get a ground floor unit in the neighbourhood so that he could move around easily. He said he could not balance well using crutches on the staircase, noting that he was still seeking daily dressing at the Butterworth district clinic.

“I spend my time with some friends at the nearby food court till my son comes and gets me.
It can be quite tiring, but I have no other option for the time being,” he said, adding that he had been living at the flat since 1992.

Bagan Jermal assemblyman Ooi Chuan Aik said Sukir had been using a borrowed wheelchair since the amputation. “Now, we hope he can move independently within his flat and along the corridors in his own wheelchair,” he said.

Ooi, who also gave Sukir RM300 from his state constituency emergency fund, said he would get the state Housing Department to help resolve Sukir’s predicament.

Rotary Club of Butterworth president G. Sarkuru said the club had raised funds to buy 20 wheelchairs at a discounted price of about RM400 each. “We hope to give out these wheelchairs to needy handicapped persons under our wheelchair charity programme this year,” he said.

Those keen on applying for the wheelchair aid can contact Sarkuru at 04-3331188 or 012-9838485.