The Viettel Group has donated VND400 million to provide free-of-charge eye surgery for poor people in two central provinces of Ha Tinh and Thanh Hoa. Doctors from the Vietnam National Institute of Ophthalmology (VNIO) have conducted 200 eye surgeries for poor people in Quang Xuong district, Thanh Hoa province and Vu Quang district, Ha Tinh province. All surgeries totaled VND400 million were donated by Viettel Group. Over the past three years, the mobile surgery team of the VNIO offered free eye surgery to provide better vision to nearly 5,000 poor people in the northern and north central provinces. Money for surgery has been donated by many businesses and individuals both domestically and abroad. VNIO doctors also transferred advanced surgery technologies to local doctors to help people in remote and mountainous areas access modern eye treatment services. They also disseminated information to improve people’s awareness on eye care and treatment. Currently, Vietnam has more than 2 million blind people and thousands of people with impaired eyesight and it targets to cut the blindness rate to below 0.3% of total population by 2020. (vovnews.vn Dec 8)
