Hanoi (VNA) – The Ho Chi Minh City Sponsoring Association for Poor Patients (SAPP) and benefactors on July 25 presented 1,382 scholarships worth over 1.5 billion VND (65,000 USD) to disadvantaged and disabled students with excellent academic performance in the country.

Dr Tran Thanh Long, SAPP President, said this year’s scholarships are allocated for 13 localities nationwide, including Ho Chi Minh City, Gia Lai, Kon Tum, Dak Lak, Dak Nong, Tra Vinh, Long An, Ben Tre, Ninh Thuan, Khanh Hoa, Thua Thien-Hue, Ca Mau and Nghe An.

The progamme benefits poor, orphan, disabled and ethnic students with good academic performance, helping them have more chances to pursue their study, he said.

After 18 years, the programme granted more than 22,380 scholarships worth over 22 billion VND (956,500 USD) in total.

As of October 2017, the association had raised over 1 trillion VND (46.46 million USD) from various social sources to help the poor.

It sponsored more than 7,730 heart operations, 530,000 eye surgeries, 38,000 cleft lip/palate operations, 120 scoliosis operations as well as cancer screenings for more than 48,700 women.

SAPP also provided 18,300 hearing aids for deaf children, 20,600 scholarships for poor students, 14,000 meal portions for hospitals, and nearly 146,000 health insurance cards to poor households.

It built more than 700 charity houses and 100 bridges in rural areas.-VNA   
VNA