The Paomee Welfare Foundation (PWF), a charitable trust of All Manipur Working Journalists’ Union, AMWJU, awarded financial assistance, totalling Rs 3.3 lakh to six journalists to cover medical treatment expenses incurred by them, on themselves or their nominees during April–September 2021. The medical conditions for which assistance were doled out included Cancer, Liver Cirrhosis, Hemoptysis and COVID-19 infection, PWF stated.
Apart from the disbursement of the financial assistance held at the Manipur Press Club, PWF invited applications from bona fide journalists for the phase-2 of the Medical Financial Assistance for the year 2021-22 for treatment expenses incurred between October 2021 to March 31 2022, it stated in a release.
The next disbursement would be done in April 2022, PWF stated. The financial assistance of Rs 3,30,000 were handed over to the six beneficiaries at a simple function held at the Manipur Press Club by the PWF team led by its chairperson and the newly elected AMWJU president Wangkhemcha Shamjai, along with other trustees of the Foundation, namely N Tombiraj, Asem Bhakta and Sunzu Bachaspatimayum, it further stated.
It mentioned that with four of six beneficiaries already having received immediate financial assistance from AMWJU, their respective amounts received as advance were deducted from the amount as recommended by the Medical Board.
It stated that Poknapham executive editor Gautam Sharma Shamurailatpam was awarded Rs 90 000 as assistance for the treatment of his mother. Churachandpur correspondent of People’s Chronicle M Keimuanthang received Rs 75,000 for medical expenses incurred on his wife, who unfortunately succumbed to her ailment, it stated.
Chongtham Meghabarna of Paonilkhon was awarded Rs 50,000 while Kh Inaomacha Singh and Wahengbam Lalpal of Impact TV received Rs 30, 000 and Rs 35,000 respectively, it added.
Lastly, K Sarojkumar Sharma of Morning Bell was awarded Rs 50,000 for his medical bills.
During a brief interaction, beneficiaries expressed their heartfelt gratitude for the assistance provided to them by PWF-AMWJU and hoped that such assistance would continue to assist working journalists in the future too, it stated.
PWF chairperson Shamjai recalled that a corpus fund of Rs 85 lakh was raised in 2017 and deposited with SBI, it added. It stated that of the interest earned from the bank, the medical financial assistance is being provided to past and present AMWJU members every six months in a year. He further assured to raise the corpus fund amount through another fund raising event to raise the amount of reimbursement, provided as assistance.
PWF’s financial assistance are doled out on the basis of the recommendations made by the Medical Board of PWF, consisting director as representative of Regional Institute of Medical Sciences, Dr A Santa Singh; Dr O Guneshwar Singh, representing Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Medical Sciences, and managing director Shija Hospitals and Research Institute Dr Kh Palin, it added.
