Thirty thousand people from underserved interior communities will receive diabetic retinopathy screening over a 10-year period to help them avoid irreversible blindness due to a lack of early diagnosis.

The screening is made possible through a RM75,000 contribution by OCBC Bank (Malaysia) Berhad (OCBC Bank) to St. John Ambulance Malaysia that enabled the latter to install an Artificial Intelligence-powered VeriSee DR Fundus Camera on a medical bus providing essential health screenings for underserved interior communities.

The donation from OCBC Bank was jointly contributed by its Chief Operating Officers’ Division and Kuala Lumpur Main Branch which include staff’s personal contribution.

According to Mr Poon Yau Shin, Area Commander of St. John Ambulance of Malaysia, Kawasan Selangor Selatan, OCBC Bank’s support would touch lives in unimaginable ways.

“The lasting impact created by the installation of this medical device will have an untold lasting impact on the 30,000 individuals over a 10-year period, ensuring irreversible blindness does not hit them due to the lack of early diagnosis. The bank clearly has an eye on the community, including those far from where they operate. At St. John Ambulance of Malaysia, our mission is to serve humanity. This support helps us reach people before it’s too late — protecting sight and preventing avoidable blindness, especially in communities that can’t afford to catch the problem early. We're proud to partner with a bank that sees the bigger picture and invests in long-term community health,” he said.

Speaking on behalf of OCBC Bank, its Chief Operating Officer Ms Chong Lee Ying said the Bank engages with the communities it is involved in by assessing their needs and striving to meet them in the spirit of the long-term good of society.

“Our aspiration to be Asia’s leading financial services partner for a sustainable future extends beyond our customers. We want to be the bank that enables the communities around us to realise their aspirations as well.

“OCBC Bank serves the communities in which it operates nationwide through the three pillars of our #OCBCCares platform: education, environment and healthcare. The focus of our collaborative effort with St. John Ambulance of Malaysia falls under the Healthcare pillar of our Equipped to Enable programme. We believe that banks have a vital role to play beyond traditional banking, particularly in uplifting the communities around us. By encouraging our people to actively participate in fundraising and corporate social responsibility initiatives, we foster a culture of compassion and commitment within the bank. Through these collective efforts, we aim to make a meaningful impact and in the case of this initiative, by substantially reducing the risk of vision loss among the underserved communities,” she said.

Alongside the contribution, Mr Sunny Wong, Senior Manager of OCBC’s KL Main Branch added that the bank will also be conducting a financial literacy and online scams awareness workshop to the communities during the mobile clinic session.

“Such awareness will ensure better financial management for the future and greater confidence to tackle the prevalent cyber scams menace,” he said.

Other programmes under the #OCBCCares platform are Plate to Plant (environment, relating mainly to food composting), Sun to Save (environment, involving installation of solar panels on the roofs of charity homes, schools, hospitals, and other facilities), and Aided to Aspire (education outreach).