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Thousands of
poor patients in HCM City and other areas in Vietnam will receive
free treatment thanks to medicines donated by the Canadian
Escarpment Biosphere Foundation (EBF) yesterday, January 6.
"The medicine,
worth VND2bil, is the largest-ever pharmaceutical donation we have
received," said Dr Pham Van Trong, a representative from the
Vietnam Red Cross, at the donation ceremony in HCM City.
Some 300,000
people, especially women and children from poor rural households
in the city's 24 districts, will now receive medicine free of
charge at Red Cross clinics and hospitals, said Dr Trong.
The donation will
also help people in six other areas including Tay Ninh, Dac Lac
and Hai Phong, he said.
The donated
medicines are essential for treating problems such as allergies
and anaphylaxis, intestinal parasitic diseases, fungal infections
and malaria.
At present, despite
growing demand, some Red Cross clinics in HCM City's rural
districts are still not well-equipped, so the money will go a long
way.
"On average,
we receive 20 visitors to our clinic a day," said Phan Thi
Huong, a representative from the District 9 Red Cross Clinic.
"But despite
our efforts, the clinic is unable to help some patients every day
because of a lack of medicines and basic diagnostic equipment like
an ultrasound and X-ray machine. The donated medicines will make a
big difference".
Founded by a group
of Canadian donors in 1997, EBF has provided 11.1mil poor people
with better health care through its donation programmes in
countries including the Philippines, North Korea, Congo, Kenya and
Niger.
(Source: Viet
Nam News)
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