Mobile Medical Mission Provides Treatment and Supplies to Remote Island Village
Misi Perubatan Bergerak Menyediakan Rawatan dan Bekalan ke Kampung Pulau Terpencil

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The Malaysian Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, in collaboration with MERCY Malaysia Sabah State Chapter, donated medical supplies, hygiene kits, and travel-related services to the remote Tigabu Island in the Kudat region of East Malaysia. The three-day help mission included over 20 volunteers providing dental, medical, pharmaceutical and personal hygiene support, and supplies to an island with just over 500 inhabitants.

Pulau Tigabu is an island village, home to almost 600 people with approximately 110 houses and 125 heads of households. Income sources are mainly fishing and sea ranching of sea cucumbers with an average income of about 226 USD per month. Government services visit the island village a few times per year to provide medical support for school children attending the island school – adults depend on other sources of medical care. Access to medical care for adults requires almost one month’s salary for boat transportation and medical costs.

Church humanitarian missionaries Elder Brad and Sister Marsha Douglas serving in East Malaysia, responded to this healthcare need, working with the Sabah chapter of non-governmental organization (NGO) MERCY Malaysia to provide medical support to the underserved. The collaboration provided over half the village community with free treatment, medication, and awareness education.

Getting to the island village required transporting equipment and supplies onto a bus, traveling three hours to a coastal jetty, loading seven small fishing boats, navigating by sea to the island, and unloading the equipment finally at the island elementary school. The Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency escorted the volunteer team to assure safe passage and demonstrate support to the island community. The return trip following the mission required boarding a large fishing vessel to withstand the unusually high wind and sea swell warnings from the agency.

"By all measures, this was a successful mission,” said Edna Salumbi, Senior Program Officer for MERCY. “The services, supplies, home visits, and hope we brought will benefit this community for a long time until we can return again,” she said.

The Church donation included all travel-related costs: food and water for volunteers, medical supplies for doctors and dentists, hygiene kits, medications, and all awareness campaign expenses. Volunteers included dentists, hygienists, doctors, college students, teachers, interns, and pharmacists. Many standard medications were prescribed and distributed after consultation with physicians. Dental services included basic cleaning, fillings, and some extractions. Those needing reading glasses were also provided with them.

"We feel blessed to be able to help provide basic medical care and supplies in collaboration with MERCY Malaysia,” said Elder Douglas. "We hope this donation of critical healthcare support from our faithful Church members will make a difference and have an impact on the quality of life for these humble villagers.”

The Church has a long history of collaborating with non-governmental organizations and government agencies in Malaysia on various humanitarian and welfare initiatives. Other projects in the region include medical equipment donations to hospitals and clinics, equipment for disability and dialysis treatment centers, gravity water systems for remote villages, and vision or cataract screening camps in rural areas lacking healthcare.

The Church's humanitarian efforts are inspired by the teachings of Jesus Christ, who taught His followers to care for the sick and those in need. As the Book of Mormon states, “impart of your substance to the poor, every man according to that which he hath, such as feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, visiting the sick and administering to their relief (see Mosiah 4:26)."

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has over 17 million members worldwide. The humanitarian effort of the Church, funded by the generous donations of its members, has provided aid in 191 countries worldwide. Built on principles of sustainability, community support and personal agency, Church humanitarian relief efforts work to offer individuals and communities the tools they need to improve their own circumstances in permanent and meaningful ways.