Message by Nalanda Founder, Bro.Tan

Doctors on their shifts at the National University Hospital in Kuala Lumpur.

7 April of each year is designated as “World Health Day”.  It is heart-breaking, and extremely challenging, that we celebrate the 2020 edition facing the most serious global contagion in modern history – the Covid-19 pandemic.

Medical workers – doctors, nurses, hospital assistants and health experts – are the front-line professionals facing the brunt of this disaster.  Around the world, they are working tirelessly to treat infected patients, comfort the dying ones, and offer support to victims’ families.  At the same time, they are risking their own health and sacrificing their rest time while serving the community.  They also put their own family members’ health at risk of exposure to the Coronavirus, a thought that must have weighed heavily in every health worker’s mind as he or she goes to work daily.

Throughout the world, health-care workers are manning the front-lines in the fight against the deadly spread of Covid-19, often putting their own lives at risk.

We read with horror and agony that tens of thousands of doctors and nurses in Spain, Italy and the United States have been infected by the Coronavirus themselves.  In China, Indonesia and the Philippines, many doctors have died treating their patients.  The human toll of Covid-19 is indeed enormous, and the post-pandemic scar will inevitably be long and deeply felt.

Nurses in Singapore going to work.

On this poignant “World Health Day”, let us salute the immense contributions of health-care workers across the globe for standing their grounds and devotedly performing their front-line duties so that the rest of humanity can breathe more easily.  There are no words to express our gratitude to all of them for their sacrifices.

In our prayers today, let us dedicate merits to all health-care workers and front-liners everywhere for their dedicated services.  May they have the physical, mental and spiritual strength to continue with their vital service to the world.  Thank you!