Donations give more impulse to COVID-19 fight in HCM City

HCM City (VNA) – The battle against COVID-19 in Ho Chi Minh City has received more support from the Lao people, overseas Vietnamese, along with agencies, businesses, and religious followers from nationwide.

On September 15, the administration of the Lao province of Xiengkhouang handed over aid to HCM City via Vietnam’s State-owned Company of Economic Cooperation (COECCO).

The aid is worth nearly 200 million LAK (21,000 USD) in total donated by Xiengkhouang agencies, organisations and people, as well as the Vietnamese community in the province. It consists of 93 million LAK in cash and over 20 tonnes of food.

The assistance will be delivered to HCM City by the COECCO, which is operating in Laos, in the next few days.

The HCM City Committee for Overseas Vietnamese Affairs also presented financial aid and medical supplies to the frontline healthcare force in the city on September 15.

The relief includes a donation of 125 million VND (5,500 USD) from a humanitarian fund of Vietnamese women in Europe to the Cho Ray Hospital.

Authorised by the Foreign Ministry’s Commission for Overseas Vietnamese, the HCM City committee also received goods and medical supplies donated by Vietnamese people in Sacramento city of California, the US, to the Cho Ray Hospital.

The assistance includes 3,840 N95 face masks, 480 3M face masks, 80 sets of protective clothing, and 500 anti-splash face shields.

The same day, the Standing Board of the municipal Vietnam Fatherland Front Committee received goods and medical supplies supported by agencies, enterprises, and religious establishments.

The Ministry of Finance and the Bao Viet Group donated 6,000 welfare bags worth 1.8 billion VND, the Woongjin Foods company 2,000 boxes of rice milk bottles worth 1 billion VND, and a group of Protestants in Go Vap district 1,500 sets of medical protective clothing worth 140 million VND.

From August 15 to September 15, the HCM City welfare centre and the municipal board for raising, receiving, and distributing the COVID-19 Prevention and Control Fund received donations worth over 108 billion VND both in cash and in kind.

More than 96 billion VND worth of essential goods have also been provided for makeshift hospitals, COVID-19 hospitals, localities, charity kitchens, religious establishments, nursing centres for the disadvantaged elderly and children, units of armed forces, and volunteers to assist the pandemic combat.

The city’s welfare centre has also delivered nearly 1.8 million welfare bags to districts citywide to support poor families and people hit hard by the pandemic./.