Dai-ichi Life sponsors cataract surgeries for poor patients

By Binh Nguyen in HCMC

Yamamoto Tatsusaburo (C) of Dai-ichi Life Vietnam helps a nurse take care of a patient after an eye operation in Kien Giang Province over the weekend - Photo: Courtesy of Dai-ichi Life Vietnam

Dai-ichi Life and the HCMC Sponsoring Association for Poor Patients provided cataract surgeries for some 200 poor patients in Giong Rieng District in the Mekong Delta province of Kien Giang over the weekend and more than 100 patients in HCMC in March.

Yamamoto Tatsusaburo, deputy general director of Dai-ichi Life Vietnam, said the eye operations would help the beneficiaries in Kien Giang Province integrate into their community with more hope for a better life.

“The eye operations bring not only sight and confidence to the patients but also happiness to us, the organizers [when we see them happy],” said Tatsusaburo.

The program will benefit around 200 sight-impaired patients in the northern province of Thai Binh next month. This is the second consecutive year that Dai-ichi Life has sponsored such a charity program for 500 underprivileged cataract patients in Vietnam.

Cataracts are identified as the most common reason for blindness in Vietnam, and most of the patients suffering from cataracts have limited medical treatment. It is estimated that around 170,000 people suffer from cataracts in Vietnam each year and therefore sponsorship for medical treatment and operations for them are badly needed.

Bringing Sight to the Disadvantaged Blind is one of the activities that Dai-ichi Life is sponsoring to contribute to the community and express its “lifetime partner” commitment to the Vietnamese people.

Besides the eye operation program in 2009 and 2010, Dai-ichi Life has also worked with government agencies and non-governmental organizations on community activities in Vietnam, ncluding offering public health awards and support to local communities.