Voluntary welfare organisation Hira Educational and Social Services was confirmed as a society last week. It will now apply for charity status.

At the announcement Wednesday afternoon at Hira's Woodlands premises, Member of Parliament (Ang Mo Kio GRC) and Hira patron Dr Intan Azura Mokhtar said she "admired" the accomplishments of the two-year old organisation and hoped more support could be given to them.

Dr Intan highlighted that the "best part" about Hira's work was that a significant number of its staff members and volunteers are made up of former drug addicts who had come clean, which she hoped would serve as a form of inspiration and motivation to current addicts.

The group's founder Mr Rasman Saridin, 46, who is a former drug addict, and his team of workers, have reached out to about 250 drug addicts and their families.