Free medical checkups, medicines offered to 6 million poor people

Outstanding organisations and individuals honoured at the conference (Photo: VNA)

More than 6 million poor people were provided with free health checkups and medicines thanks to a humanitarian programme on treatment and public health services in the 2014-2017 period.

The programme was designed to call for entire society’s engagement in humanitarian medical checkups and treatment, thus helping to improve the services for the needy, with priority given to poor, remote, border and island areas.

Jointly organised by the Vietnam Red Cross Society, the Ministry of Health, the Vietnam People’s Army’s General Department of Politics and the Association of Vietnam’s Young Doctors, the programme targets to give free health checkups and medicines to at least 1 million people each year.

After four years of implementation, the programme offered medical checkups and medicines to over 6 million people across the country with a total cost of more than 1,318 billion VND, including 525 billion VND worth of medicines.

The programme saw the participation of more than 257,300 doctors and health workers, while receiving support from many organisations, enterprises and individuals.

Vice President of the Vietnam Red Cross Society Tran Thi Hong An said that the programme has contributed to implementing social security policies of the Party and State, while sharing the burden with the Ministry of Health.

Meanwhile, Deputy Minister of Health Nguyen Viet Tien said that it has brought high-quality healthcare services to locals in extremely disadvantaged areas, while encouraging young doctors to reach remote areas to ease difficulties for the poor.

He suggested that in the coming time, the programme should take advantage of local health workers to reduce costs.

VNA