Dr Mohtar (second from left) and Lilis Saslinda (on his left) having a look at some of the produce on sale at Hospital Sultanah Aminah’s Jualan Rahmah event in Johor Baru.
THE Domestic Trade and Cost of Living Ministry (KPDN) said more than 300 Jualan Rahmah events have been held since January across all 26 parliamentary constituencies in Johor.
State KPDN director Lilis Saslinda Pornomo said the ministry was committed to ensuring the public could buy basic goods at affordable prices through the initiative.
“Since the beginning of the year, we have held 341 Jualan Rahmah events – 306 were mobile programmes, 27 were held outdoors and eight indoors.
“On top of that, we also organised several special Jualan Rahmah Madani events during major festivals in the country,” she said after visiting an outdoor Jualan Rahmah programme at Hospital Sultanah Aminah (HSA) in Johor Baru.
Lilis Saslinda said consumers were able to enjoy discounts of between 10% and 30% through the Jualan Rahmah initiative.
“We hope that this will help to reduce the people’s burden, especially with the rising cost of living,” she said.
“I also urge the public to lodge official complaints with the ministry if they come across operators that fail to adhere to proper business practices, instead of complaining on social media.
“While consumers are free to post their complaints on social media, they also need to make an official report so that the ministry can take prompt action.”
Lilis Saslinda said this was also to prevent the businesses involved from hiding evidence that could prove their wrongdoing before enforcement officers could carry out their investigations.
She said Johor KPDN was open to organising more Jualan Rahmah events in hospitals if there was a need.
Johor Health Department director Dr Mohtar Pungut Ahmad, who was also present, said it welcomed the offer to organise similar initiatives at other hospitals and was prepared to give its assistance.
“This is the second time a Jualan Rahmah event is held in a hospital in Johor.
“The first one was at Hospital Sultan Ismail (HSI).
“We welcome such initiatives as it will benefit both the public and medical staff who may not have time to go grocery shopping as they have to focus on their duties,” he said. — By VENESA DEVI
