The sum of €7.7 million – up by 61 per cent over 2016 – was last year distributed by the Malta Community Chest Fund Foundation, supporting more than 11,000 people.
An increase was also recorded in donations it received. Donors contributed €500,000 more than in 2016, while at the same time, the foundation itself decreased its fund-raising expenses by €24,000.
According to MCCFF’s annual report, medical assistance to Maltese people increased to €4.4 million last year – up from €2.4 million in 2016, while the unit for disability assistance distributed €560,000, compared to €275,000 in 2016.
During the year, its unit for medical assistance approved in excess of 1,000 applications. In their vast majority, these applications were for 32 different types of specialised chemotherapy.
Overall medical and overseas assistance amounted to €5.7m
This unit also approved around 600 applications for assistance to Maltese patients needing treatment abroad, costing around €700,000.
This included 264 air tickets and 1,500 accommodation nights, as well as financial assistance to cover food and transport expenses while abroad.
The foundation, meanwhile, distributed around 200 wigs made from natural, donated hair.
Commenting that she was indebted to the donors, President Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca said that there was a need for greater effort to “meet today’s realities”, adding that she believed solidarity is “an essential part of our fabric as a nation”.
“I am sure that together, we will rise to the challenges ahead as the Malta Community Chest Fund Foundation seeks to carry out its essential mission to help an increasing number of people in need.”
She was speaking at the foundation’s third Annual General Meeting, held this week, which heard that overall medical and overseas assistance amounted to €5.7 million, a 63 per cent increase over the previous year.
Meanwhile, people and institutions requiring social assistance received €2 million, an increase of 55 per cent over the comparative period in 2016.
In 2017
• Installation of 70 TV sets, complete with television service, free of charge, in Sir Anthony Mamo Oncology Centre wards.
• Donation of a Trans Magnetic Stimulation Machine to the Psychiatric Unit within Mater Dei Hospital. This machine stimulates the brain of someone who would have suffered depression when medicines would not have remained effective.
• The Social Assistance Unit carried an expense of €1.3 million, providing assistance through food vouchers, domestic appliances, uniforms and educational facilities, supporting around 9,000 people.
• Donated €44,000 towards Ophthalmological Research being carried out by the Research, Innovation and Development Trust.