“Mitr Phol – Banpu Endowment” Adds Budget of THB 500 Million to Total THB 1 Billion Setting 7 Categories of Aids and Standing by Thais to Overcome Crisis
1 October 2021 – Under the COVID-19 situation in Thailand that continues to have wider impact on all sectors including entrepreneurs, society, communities and general public, the “Mitr Phol – Banpu Solidarity to Aid Thailand on COVID-19 Confrontation Endowment” has realized these difficulties and has continued the mission to Stand by Thais to Fight COVID-19 by adding another THB 500 million, totaling the endowment at THB 1,000 million. With this additional support, the two companies plan to offer help in 7 categories. The major amount of the endowment focuses on helping people with the economic impact, both in terms of their livelihood and wellness while the other part will be allocated to support public health sector in providing necessary medical equipment to prevent and control the spread of COVID-19 until the situation in the country returns to normal.
In the virtual press conference entitled “Mitr Phol – Banpu Stands by Thais, Empowering to Overcome the Crisis”, Mitr Phol Group and Banpu Public Company Limited reaffirmed the intention of “Mitr Phol – Banpu Solidarity to Aid Thailand on COVID-19 Confrontation Endowment” and its mission to fight COVID-19 beside Thai people. The endowment will focus on helping people who were affected in terms of their burden of economic situation, livelihood and wellness by setting up an additional budget of THB 500 million or additional THB 250 million from each company. With the direction covering main issues that people in Thailand have greatly suffered from the COVID-19 crisis, the endowment is allocating the support in 7 categories: 1. Aid for people affected by the pandemic in terms of burden of economy and livelihood 2. Support on medical equipment for hospitals and public health agencies 3. Support on proactive health service 4. Support on prevention work and funeral activities for COVID-19 patients 5. Support to medical personnel and related people 6. Aid in terms of mental health problems and 7. Support on other related purposes.
Mr. Buntoeng Vongkusolkit, Chairman of Mitr Phol Group, said “Since the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, the strengths of the endowment’s operation are being prompt, spot on, insightful, and ready to reach out. We cooperated with all sectors to support important medical equipment to medical personnel who were the front line to fight against COVID-19, as well as provided necessary supplies in COVID-19 patients treatment to hospitals, public health agencies, foundations and other agencies. Now the public health system is quite prepared to support medical treatment and prevention of the spreading COVID-19 more efficiently, but what is severely impacted is the economic situation which has directly affected the general public’s livelihood. Therefore, we set the endowment’s directions to truly meet people’s needs by providing a quick fix for specific problems, relieving hardship in people’s living, supporting entrepreneurs of small businesses to save their costs and be able to move forward. All of these can stimulate employment, bringing about income distribution to the local economy system. More importantly, Mitr Phol and Banpu are committed to focusing on a streamlined, non-duplicating way of working, and cooperating with the networks we have to distribute our assistance to the target group timely and effectively.”
Mrs. Somruedee Chaimongkol, Chief Executive Officer of Banpu Public Company Limited, said “Over the past one and a half years, the endowment has provided support to public health sector through supporting necessary medical equipment to prevent and control the spread of COVID-19 to hospitals and public health agencies. The endowment also offered our help to those who are economically impacted in various communities. With those missions, we have cooperated with over 380 organizations, foundations, and volunteer groups in 40 provinces across the country. Moreover, sharing knowledge, information and lessons learned from past operation have allowed us to understand more about the problems and propelled us to meet people’s needs and really mitigate the impact on those suffering from this crisis. Therefore, we join forces with Mitr Phol Group to add more 500-million-baht budget with 7 categories of support as our main criteria for considering our aid. In addition to the budget partly allocated to support medical equipment needed to prevent and control the spread of COVID-19, this time we focus more on helping those suffering from the economic impact, affecting their living, hoping to empower Thais in getting through the difficulty from the current crisis.
The online press conference also featured a special panel discussion on the topic “Come Together to Help Thais Move Forward”, with 4 honorable guest speakers joining this session namely Dr. Supreda Adulyanon, Chief Executive Officer of Thai Health Promotion Foundation (ThaiHealth), whose organization took a crucial role in providing people with knowledge about the COVID-19, helping them understand how to practice self-care, adapting to changing situation and protecting themselves; Ms. Pantip Petchmark, Deputy Director of Community Organizations Development Institute (CODI) (Public Organization), who shared her experience on the mission of supporting community management for COVID-19 patient care and epidemic control in densely inhabited areas; M.R. Chalermchatri Yukol, Founder of the Up for Thai Group, who pointed out the importance of know-how on the three phases of relief efforts for disaster management – the urgent phase, the healing phase, and the recovery phase, which should be openly shared and communicated for better management in the future; and Dr. Krisada Kritayakirana, Chief Executive of Urban Mobility Tech Co., Ltd., who shared the mission of “MuvMi ASA KHONSONG”, the e-Tuk Tuk transport service project under the Mitr Phol – Banpu Endowment, which provides ‘MuvMi’ e-Tuk Tuks to transport COVID-19 recovered patients home, deliver food and survival kits to the affected communities, along with home isolation kits to the COVID-19 patients under Home Isolation program throughout MuvMi service coverage areas in Bangkok.
Dr. Supreda Adulyanon, Chief Executive Officer of Thai Health Promotion Foundation (ThaiHealth)
Ms. Pantip Petchmark, Deputy Director of Community Organizations Development Institute (CODI) (Public Organization)
M.R. Chalermchatri Yukol, Founder of the Up for Thai Group
Dr. Krisada Kritayakirana, Chief Executive of Urban Mobility Tech Co., Ltd.
Insightful perspectives from the 4 guest speakers reflected the urgent need today to aid people in Thailand, in particular, those living in highly dense households and communities, persons with disabilities, stateless people, the vulnerable members of society and people who suffer from economic impact. This is in line with the focus areas of assistance determined by Mitr Phol – Banpu Endowment during the recent allocation of additional budget. The endowment has assisted the 4 organizations in procuring sufficient essential supplies, medicines and consumer goods, in order to ensure adequate assistance for those most in need.
Mitr Phol Group and Banpu Public Company Limited as the private sectors are committed to strictly complying with policies and measures from the government. At the same time, the two companies will continue their mission to support the prevention and control the spread of COVID-19 while providing assistance to those affected by COVID-19 with resources and networks that both companies have, with an aim that the “Mitr Phol – Banpu Solidarity to Aid Thailand on COVID-19 Confrontation Endowment” plays an essential role to stand by Thais to get over the crisis and get their normal lives back.
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About ‘Mitr Phol – Banpu Solidarity to Aid Thailand on COVID-19 Confrontation Endowment’
Mitr Phol Group and Banpu Public Company Limited have jointly established the Mitr Phol – Banpu Solidarity to Aid Thailand on COVID-19 Confrontation Endowment since March 2020. With a total budget of 500 million baht raised from the two companies for 250 million baht each, the endowment aims to provide support medical and public health equipment needed to prevent and control the spread of the COVID-19 for hospitals and public health agencies across the country and also provided aid to general public whose lives have been affected by the economic situation. In October 2021, the two companies added another THB 500 million budget to the endowment, totaling THB 1 billion, to continue helping Thai society.
About Banpu
Banpu Public Company Limited is a leading integrated energy solutions company with 3 core groups of businesses: energy resource, energy generation and energy technology in 10 countries, namely Thailand, Indonesia, China, Australia, Lao PDR, Mongolia, Singapore, Japan, the United States of America and Vietnam.
About Mitr Phol Group
Mitr Phol Group is the fifth largest sugar producer in the world and the largest producer in Asia. Mitr Phol Group currently operate 16 sugar mill, 11 biomass power plants, and 4 ethanol plants with over 143,000 farmers in charge across Thailand, Laos, China, Australia and Indonesia. Mitr Phol Group is also a large biomass producer in Asia. It also operates in the wood substitute material business, the fertilizer business and the logistics business in the agricultural industry.
