After surgeries, these doctors also presented each of the patients with gifts and cash worth VND100,000.

The mission was part of a programme on free cataract operations, co-sponsored by the HCM City Association in Support of Poor Patients and the HCM City Eye Hospital.

Since 2004, the programme has benefited an estimated 5,000 Cambodians, according to a report at a conference held in Phnom Penh on September 8 to review its operations in the past three years.

Phnom Penh Mayor Kev Choutema praised the charitable programme as a practical contribution to the friendship between Cambodia and Vietnam. He also expressed his wish that multi-faceted cooperation between Phnom Penh and HCM City will further develop in a more practical way.