EX PENANG footballers organise blood donation campaign for Mohamad Bakar

GEORGE TOWN: Former Penang Footballers Association (EX PENANG) yesterday organised a special blood donation campaign for national football legend Datuk Mohamad Bakar who is suffering from a bone disease.

EX PENANG president Radzuan Putah said they only took three days to organise the programme with the help of health officers from the Kepala Batas Hospital.

“When we found out that our advisor (Mohamad) is in need of blood transfusion, we decided to organise this programme. We invited former and current state as well as national players to come together and donate blood for him.

“We also want to express our gratitude to the Health Ministry’s personnel who came today despite their busy schedule in handling COVID-19 cases,” he told Bernama at the event which was jointly organised by the Penang Football Association at Stadium Bandaraya here.

Meanwhile, Mohamad’s daughter Siti Mardhiana when contacted said her father, who has AB+ blood type, was currently being treated at the Penang Hospital Hematology Ward and could receive blood from the A+, B+, AB+ and O+ groups.

“My father’s health condition is deteriorating. He is having a condition where his bone marrow fails to produce enough healthy blood cells for his body,” she said.

Mohamad, 75, began his football career with Penang in the 1960s before joining the national squad which qualified for the 1972 Olympics in Munich, Germany.

He was also the assistant coach for the 1980 Moscow Olympics squad and Harimau Malaya head coach in 1985.

-- BERNAMA