Under a new decision of the Government, poor and near-poor children, and children living at social sponsor centers across the country that have innate heart diseases will be given free-of-charge heart surgeries if they need one. Also according to the decision, which was signed by Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Thien Nhan and takes effect on November 20, children listed for heart surgeries will be given food and travel allowances during their surgical time. Specifically, the food allowance is set at VND50,000 ($2.4) per day during 15 days. In the past years, the financing of heart surgeries for poor children totally depended on contributions by sponsors which can be organizations or individuals. Therefore, the number of poor or near-poor children who have been given free heart surgeries is very low. In related news, the Vietnamese charitable organization “Understanding the Heart” and the Vietnam Youth Federation on October 22 signed an agreement to implement the program titled “Connect millions of hearts for Vietnamese poor children” for the 2013-2015 period. The program is supported by the Young Business Association and the Vietnam Young Doctors’ Association, which will mobilize funding for free heart surgeries and for other charitable activities for poor children. The program’s organizers expect to give free surgeries to 2,000 children with heart diseases and offer medical examination and care and heart disease screening for about 1 million children during the next two years. In addition, the program will also give nutrition supports to 3,000 poor students and build 50 charitable houses and 10 day-boarding houses for poor children and students. (Tuoi Tre –Youth Oct 24)
