Many families travel far from home to Kuala Lumpur to seek for medical treatment for their children. The cost of paediatric medical treatment is costly and putting up at hotels or motels in the city would add to the financial and emotional stress. Families also prefer to be as close as possible to their children. This “home-away-from-home” concept is to relieve the families so they can focus on their child’s treatment.
The 1st Ronald McDonald House in ASEAN opened in 1999 in the compound of Hospital Canselor Tuanku Muhriz UKM (HCTM,UKM), Cheras, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The house offers families of paediatric patients affordable and comfortable accommodation within the hospital grounds, 12 kilometers away from the capital city Kuala Lumpur.
The house was officially launched by the wife of the then Prime Minister Tun Dr. Mahathir, YABhg. Tun Dr. Siti Hasmah Binti Haji Mohd Ali on 21 June 1999, serving more than 500 families annually.
The 19-room house is fully equipped with air-conditioned bedrooms, facilities such as kitchen, dining area, TV lounge, reading corner, playground & playroom for children, mini gym, laundry room and prayer room.
The second Ronald McDonald House, located at Hospital USM in Kelantan is aimed at providing an affordable accommodation space for family members of children seeking long-term medical treatment at HUSM and other local hospitals nearby. It opened for operation on 23 June 2019 built at a cost of RM4 million.
20,000 paediatric patients receive treatments at Hospital USM every year. Majority of the patients come from Kelantan, Terengganu and Pahang. A one-way journey to the hospital could take more than 2 hours and the average treatment duration is 7 days each time. Many of these patients come from lower income group and their family members struggle with accommodation during their treatment.
Similar to other Ronald McDonald Houses, the house in Kelantan is also equipped with facilities for families to call a home-away-from-home.
Ronald McDonald House Charities Malaysia operates another Ronald McDonald House at Hospital Tunku Azizah (HTA), Kuala Lumpur. The 20-room Medi Hotel facility is now known as Ronald McDonald House at Hospital Tunku Azizah, the 3rd Ronald McDonald House in Malaysia and the 2nd house in Kuala Lumpur.
Operating on the 10th floor of the adjacent building, Ronald McDonald House at HTA provides families of paediatric patients the nearest accommodation facility to families travelling from outside Kuala Lumpur to attend to their children medical needs at Hospital Tunku Azizah and at Ministry of Health facilities nearby.
Besides the complete family facilities such as air-conditioned bedroom with bathroom, kitchen and dining area, laundry room with washer and dryer, TV lounge and play area, the house also offers the best view of the capital city Kuala Lumpur.
The fourth Ronald McDonald House, which is the first RMH in East Malaysia, is located within the HWKKS grounds and officially opened in November 2023. The house is fully equipped with 14 family rooms with complete facilities for families such as a kitchen and dining area, laundry room, lounge, children’s playroom as well as a prayer room.
This latest Ronald McDonald House is able to ease the burden of young patients and their families who come from all over the state of Sabah to receive treatment at HWKKS.
