A memorandum of understanding (MoU) on the donation was signed in Hanoi on March 23 between the Hanoi municipal Department of Health and the Standard Chartered bank. The MoU was signed in the presence of Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Thien Nhan and Australian Ambassador to Vietnam Allaster Cox.

The General Director of Standard Chartered bank, Ashok Sud, said his bank’s donation aims to provide free healthcare services to the blind in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City within the next three years. Over the past six years, the bank has donated US$1.5 million to more than 100,000 patients of blindness in Vietnam.

Thanks the programme, nearly 16,000 blind patients in Vietnam have received financial support and 590,000 people have been provided with effective ways to protect their eyes.