Free health care insurances are presented to poor patients in Ben Tre. — VNS Photo

HCM CITY (Biz Hub) — The HCM City Sponsoring Association for Poor Patients and foodstuff producer Kido Group have donated medical insurance cards and gifts together worth VND500 million (US$23,000) to 2,000 poor families in Ben Tre Province in the Mekong Delta.

The programme to gift medical insurance cards began in 2010, and so far they have given them to 14,000 people in HCM City and neighbouring provinces.

Association chairman Tran Thanh Long said with medical fees increasing from this month, the insurance protection is very useful for poor people. This year his association would gift the cards to 25,000 poor people.

Kido has also supported many of the association's other programmes for many years now, including funding eye and heart operations for poor patients.

Since 2001 it has provided VND7.5 billion ($344,000) for such causes. — VNS