HÀ NỘI — A community health care programme has provided free checkups, treatment and medicines to more than 6 million people in nearly 13,500 campaigns nationwide, heard a conference held in Hà Nội on Thursday to review its outcomes.

The 2014-17 programme, worth more than VNĐ1.318 trillion (US$58.5 million), is aimed at mobilising resources and the participation of society towards humanitarian health checkups and treatment in an effort to provide primary health care to at least 1 million impoverished people yearly.

Deputy minister of health Nguyễn Viết Tiến said that the programme has contributed remarkably in providing primary health care services and medicines to needy people at the grassroots level, especially to the poor, disadvantaged people in island, mountainous and remote areas.   

“The programme, a good policy of the Party and the government, should be expanded in the country with new mechanisms to mobilise more human and financial resources from local and international communities,” said Tiến.

The programme, entitled Joining hands for community health, was implemented by the Việt Nam Red Cross Society in collaboration with the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Defence’s General Political Department and the Việt Nam Young Physician Association.

Over the past four years, the programme has also organised 11,362 drives to provide checkups and consultations to nearly 3 million people and donated over 3.1 million gifts worth more than VNĐ448 billion to poor and disadvantaged households.

In addition, it also organised 7,578 training courses to improve emergency aid skills to more than 341,000 people, provided charity meals to poor patients and donated cows, houses and money for heart surgeries to more than 7.7 million poor and needy people.      

The programme mobilised the participation of more than 250,000 people, including 64,700 doctors and physicians from hospitals belonging to the ministries of health and defence and red cross members and volunteers. — VNS