Medical and Health Care – Malaysian Relief Agency

National & International Initiative

Medical and Health Care Cluster

MRA’s medical team is under a medical subcommittee and consists of trained volunteers with professional medical backgrounds (MD, nurses, MA and pharmacists). MRA Mobile Clinic is one of MRA’s periodic and large-scale programs. Our medical team operates field clinics, providing free medical check-ups and medications to vulnerable communities, including those affected by national and international disasters.

Type Of Medical & Healthcare Program

Primary Healthcare

MRA delivers primary healthcare through mobile and static clinics to underprivileged communities affected by disasters or crises. Our mobile clinics bring essential medical services directly to vulnerable populations, whether during emergencies or routine programs. We also provide periodic dental care for children and adults from Indigenous and refugee communities, ensuring access to essential healthcare and promoting overall well-being.

Health Education

Health education is essential for raising awareness about health-related matters, whether in conflict-affected or stable communities. MRA delivers health education through periodic sessions, helping communities build knowledge and adopt healthier practices. Common topics include personal hygiene, healthy eating, immunisation, first aid, and other essential health skills.

Mental Health

MRA provides Psychological First Aid (PFA) to children and adults in disaster-affected areas. For children, PFA uses fun and engaging activities to help them regain a sense of playfulness, emotional balance, and overall well-being. For adults, PFA focuses on physical and spiritual support that strengthens self-esteem, resilience, and motivation during difficult times.

Psychological First Aid (PFA)

As part of its commitment to the mental and emotional well-being of disaster survivors, MRA emphasizes the provision of Psychological First Aid (PFA). PFA is an immediate form of emotional and psychological support offered to individuals affected by natural disasters, accidents, or other catastrophic events. It aims to alleviate the initial distress experienced by survivors, helping them feel safe, grounded, and cared for, while reducing anxiety and emotional turmoil. Early intervention through PFA is crucial in preventing longer-term psychological difficulties such as PTSD, depression, and anxiety.

MRA’s trained personnel, including counselors and mental health professionals, provide PFA through a supportive and non-intrusive presence. They use active listening techniques to allow survivors to express their emotions in a safe, non-judgmental environment. By offering empathetic and validating support, the team helps individuals feel heard, understood, and less isolated, which is essential for coping with trauma and regaining emotional balance.

Overall, MRA’s PFA approach ensures that survivors receive timely emotional support, helping them process trauma, regain a sense of stability, and build resilience in the aftermath of disasters.

Baby Formula Initiative in Palestine

According to an article by Al-Jazeera, Palestinian mothers in the Gaza Strip are desperately trying to feed their newborns as Israel’s punishing blockade on the besieged enclave has led to dire shortages of infant formula, with some resorting to filling bottles with water and whatever food they can find.

More than 90% of children in the besieged coastal enclave suffer from malnutrition and starvation due to the severe shortage of baby formula and basic food supplies as mentioned by the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza. Mothers are either dead or also too malnourished to feed their babies.

This forces parents to search for inadequate and even unsafe alternatives including mixing solid food with water and broth. To reduce the impact, MRA assisted the Palestinians by distributing infant formulas through its local NGO partners. The infant formulas were given to affected children in shelter camps and hospitalized babies in hospitals.

Medical Initiative for International

According to the ICRC, international humanitarian law (IHL) protects access to healthcare during armed conflicts, binding both States and non-State armed groups. The rights of civilians to receive medical treatment and access hospitals must always be safeguarded, and healthcare facilities and personnel must not be disrupted. When these rights are violated, humanitarian relief organizations often intervene to restore medical services and alleviate suffering.

Palestine

The ongoing blockade by Israel severely depleted medical supplies, leaving many malnourished children and adults without treatment. In response, MRA collaborated with local NGO partners to supply essential medicines, medical equipment, consumables, and fuel for hospital generators. MRA also helped establish field clinics at temporary shelters and IDP tents to treat patients unable to reach hospitals due to continuous aerial bombings.

Syria

Through local partners, set up mobile clinics at shelters and refugee camps to reach internally displaced persons (IDPs) scattered across damaged roads, ensuring access to essential healthcare. Essential medicines were also distributed to operating hospitals and clinics to expand treatment coverage, helping overcome mobility and infrastructure challenges in conflict-affected areas.

Medical Empowerment for International

MRA places strong emphasis on enhancing the skills of medical professionals through specialized training in areas such as damage control, critical care, and emergency response. These initiatives also aim to integrate research-based training into residency programs to encourage evidence-based medical practices.

Due to the ongoing war in Gaza, the demand for emergency and trauma specialists, including pediatric intensive care experts, has increased significantly. The situation highlights the urgent need to strengthen the Palestinian healthcare system by equipping practitioners with updated knowledge and practical skills to adapt to complex and dangerous working conditions.

To address this, MRA supported training programs in Ramallah, where Palestinian medical practitioners underwent courses in:

Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS)
Advanced Trauma Life Support (ATLS)

These training aims to build a resilient healthcare workforce capable of continuing essential medical services despite hospitals being bombed, practitioners arrested, or even killed while performing their duties. Through these efforts, MRA contributes to reinforcing the capacity, safety, and sustainability of healthcare services in Palestine’s war-affected regions.

International Mobile Clinic for IDP Shelters

According to WHO, mobile clinics provide flexible and viable options for delivering healthcare to isolated and vulnerable populations, including displaced persons in crowded IDP camps. These clinics help overcome barriers to access caused by destroyed infrastructure, overcrowding, and lack of essential services.

Palestine – Gaza Mobile Clinic

Displaced Palestinians faced severe overcrowding in shelters, limited access to water, sanitation, hygiene facilities, and essential medicines, while hospitals and clinics were often destroyed due to ongoing bombings. To address this, MRA set up mobile clinics, enabling medical practitioners to cover more patients and reduce preventable deaths, particularly among children.

Number of beneficiaries: 1,320 persons

Location: Gaza Strip, Palestine

Activities:

Syria And Turkiye

Earthquake Mobile Clinic The Syrian Civil War displaced millions, forcing them to live in overcrowded shelters with limited access to healthcare. To mitigate this, MRA, through local NGO partners, established mobile clinics in designated shelters, increasing coverage and providing opportunities for medical diagnosis and treatment.

Number of beneficiaries: 3,075 persons
Location: Jindires, Syria
Activities:

Medical consultations
Basic medical checkups
Treatments for common, chronic, and seasonal diseases/infections
Provision of essential medicines

Covid 19 Pandemic

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic from 2020 to 2022, the Malaysian Relief Agency (MRA) carried out a national aid mission involving 11 branches across the country, focusing on distributing medical aid, food, and non-food items to support the healthcare system and affected communities. The mission, which prioritized healthcare support and medical equipment during the peak of the outbreak, included the distribution of adult face masks, gloves, face shields, PPE aprons, various masks, hand sanitizers, complete PPE sets, COVID-19 antigen test kits, oxygen concentrators, RT-PCR machines, and ABG machines. In total, the aid worth RM33,338,703.06 reached 4,551,893 individuals and 12,237 families across 122 districts.

Key figures and aid distribution:

Total units distributed: 5,037,769
Aid categories by cost:
Medical supplies: RM25,685,723.15 (77%)
Food aid: RM6,354,141.74 (19%)
Non-food items: RM1,296,838.17 (4%)

Most distributed aid types:

Personal Protective Equipment (PPE): 3,436,228 units
Food packages: 995,360 units
Other non-food items: 325,524 units
Cleanliness items: 84,319 units
Hot dishes: 65,729 units