The celebration got the attendance of Deputy Secretary of HCMC Party Committee Vo Thi Dung.
Chairman of the association Tran Thanh Long said that from 1997, the association has called for the social contribution for free eye surgeries on poor patients.
From now on, the association has cooperated with big infirmaries including the city’s Eye Hospital, Nguyen Trai Hospital, Nguyen Tri Phuong Hospital, STO Phuong Dong Hospital regularly provided free eye operations to bring light to the poor.
More and more patients with eye disease received free operation and many of them are from many other cities and provinces.
In 2016, the association helped 500,000 to see light and the number rose to 600,000 this year.
71-year-old Tran Quang Hung in HCMC, 600th patient, was delighted after the surgery saying that he suffered poor vision two years ago but he couldn’t afford the medical bill of the operation because of his poverty.
Now, thanks to the association’s free eye operation program, his eyesight suddenly dêtriorated, he said.
Importantly, the contribution of student Pham Thien Tam of Nam Sai Gon International School is very huge. He has initiated the project “ See again” to encourage people to contribute to the Association’s fund from 2018.
So far, the project has collected fund for 5,000 operations.
Student Tam hoped to collect more money for operations on additional 1,000 patients in next time.
Speaking at the celebration, Ms. Vo Thi Dung said that the number of 600,000 poor patients impressed her lauding the Association’s efforts, benefactors and medical workers during 22 years to help bring light back to the poor.
