DATUK DR HJ MOHAMED HANIFFA BIN HAJI ABDULLAH

Dato Dr Mohamed Haniffa is married to Datin Mumtaz Begam, a practising doctor, an has three children - two boys and one girl - Shahril 18, Anitha 16 and Sharon 13.

HIS EARLY LIFE

Dato Dr Mohamed Haniffa was born on 10 October 1949. He had his early education at the Methodist Boys School, Sentul, up to Form Three. He then went on to Sultan Abdul Aziz School in Kuala Selangor and completed his Form Five.

He was very keen sportman and was actively involved in football, badminton and long distance running and brought pride to his school and state when he won several tropies.

In 1970, he left for India to pursue a degree in medicine at the Tanjore Medical College. He completed his medical studies and obtained the MBBS degree in 1976.

Dato Dr Mohamed Haniffa returned to Malaysia in 1977 and joined the Klang Hospital as Medical Officer in 1978. While serving in the Government Sector, he volunteered to serve in the Army for two years.

He started his own private practice in 1982 and opened two clinics on Klang simultaneously. While in private practice, he realised the threat of communicable diseases and the dangers they posed to Malaysian people, especially with the influx of large numbers of foreign workers (estimated to be close to 1.5 million spread over in Peninsula Malaysia in 1998).

BIRTH OF FOMEMA

His vison for a healthy Malaysian society took him on a long arduous path. It took him quite a while to persuade the powers that be to take some action in this regard and ward off the immediate threat of large scale spread of communicable diseases.

His untiring efforts paid off when Anjur Dinamik Sdn Bhd and Koperasi Doktor Malaysia were successful in their bid to establish FOMEMA (Foreign Workers Medical Examination Monitoring Agency) which finally came into being in 1997.

FOMEMA, his brainchild, has been initially accorded a fifteen years concession agreement by the Government of Malaysia. Dato Dr Mohamed Haniffa is the Managing Director of FOMEMA and is assisted by qualified staff of over 200 to carry out this mission

Since its inception in late 1997, FOMEMA has registered a total number of 669,161 foreign workers up to December 1998 and medical examination has been conducted on 644,382 foreign workers up to December 1998.

Out of the total number of medical examinations conducted on foreign workers so far, 28,880 have been found unfit because of the following diseases:

The above figures proved that the concerns highlighted by Dato Dr Mohamed Haniffa were not exaggerated and were very real.

SOCIAL SERVICE WITH THE ROTARY CLUB

During his tenure as Community Services Director with the Rotary Club of Klang, a pedestrian flyover was constructed in the vicinity of the Covent School in Klang for the safety and convenience of the school children and other pedestrians. Prior to the construction of the flyover, there to be at least one accident every day.

Dato Dr Mohamed Haniffa was elected President of the Rotary Club of Klang in 1991 for a one-year term.

He always has the welfare of the needy and especially the deserving students in mind who had financial difficulties in pursuing their studies. He was instrumental in setting up a revolving fund and collected RM 75,000 for scholarships to deserving students through the Rotary Club of Klang.

The first set of such scholarships were awarded to six technical college students, 18 form six students and six university students. The awarding of scholarships has since continued and is an annual affair.

During his presidency, Dato Dr Mohamed Haniffa also organised a medical camp for the rural areas in Klang and hosted the first ever meeting of Rotary Club Village Corps for the Asian Zone which brought together participants from 21 countries.

He was also responsible for organising sister clubs with New-Nonsan Rotary Club of Republic of Korea and Meenambakkam Rotary Club of Madras, India. These clubs formed an outlet to promote international understanding, goodwill, exchange of ideas and an understanding of each other's culture.

VISITING DIRECTOR OF BENGKEL DAYA

Dato Dr Mohamed Haniffa was appointed visiting Director of Bengkel Daya in Klang by the Honorable Minister of National Unity and Rural Developement and held the post from 1992 to 1995.

As Visiting Director of the organisation, he worked towards improving the lives of the handicapped and making them feel part of society. One of the innovation introduced by him was to teach the handicapped skills to equip themselves with the knowledge to make artificial limbs, tailoring and assembling of circuit boards. He worked hand in hand with the factories to provide employment to these people enabling them to become self reliant and independent and be able to fend for themselves.

MALAYSIAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION

Dato Dr Mohamed Haniffa was elected Chairman of the Malaysian Mediacl Association (Selangor Branch) in 1994. He was also the Exco and Council of Malaysian Mediacal Assocition in 1994.

A SOCIAL ACTIVIST

Dato Dr Mohamed Haniffa has been actively involved in many social activities and organisations. He and his wife, Dr Mumtaz Begum, organise free medical treatment camps on regular basis in which more than 30,000 rural people has been treated so far.

He regularly provides free medical services to old folks homes in Selangor.

Dato Dr Mohamed Haniffa also provides free medical services to the children in the orphanage in Meru, Klang, Selangor both at the Orphanage and at his clinics.

He is the doctor for the Rotary Kidney Dialysis Center in Klang which he assisted to set up with donation from the public and assists patients with kidney ailments also provides medical treatment and advice.

He is also the Advisor and Director of Nurul Manzil Orphanage in Puchong, Selangor. The Orphanage has 25 inmates aged 6 to 18 years. Funds are raised from monthly subscriptions or donations. A great emphasis is placed on the education, including religious education, of these inmates.

RELIGIOUS ACTIVITIES

Dato Dr Mohamed Haniffa has been involved in several religious activities. He was the President and Chaiman of the organisation which succesfully built a new Mosque in Batang Berjuntai, Selangor Darul Ehsan, in 1992.

He is also the Treasurer and Building Committee Chairman and is involved in the planning of a new Mosque at Jalan Tunku Kelana, Klang, estimated to cost RM Fifteen Million. The construction is to begin soon and Inshaallah with the help of public contributions and the State Government aid, it will be succesfully completed.

UIM RESOURCES BHD

A Group of businessmen and community leaders have joined together and formed the above company. The aim is to raise a revolving fund at least RM 100 Million and invest into projects and help the needy business people. The group has chosen Dato Dr Hj. Mohamed Haniffa to lead this company. Dato Dr Hj. Mohamed Haniffa considers this as his greatest achivement and honour.