Multiple activities to be held for the disabled

A vocational training class for people with disabilities (Photo: VNA)

The programme, in its 15th edition, will be broadcast live on Vietnam Television’s VTV2.

This is part of activities to be held by the Association for the Support of Vietnamese Handicapped and Orphans (ASVHO) to mark Vietnam Day of Persons with Disabilities (April 18). 

Forty-eight disabled people who are heads of businesses and production facilities will share their stories at a gathering slated for April 16 morning. 

Among the businesspeople, 14 are female and three belong to ethnic minority groups.  

A seminar for heads of enterprises and production facilities will also be held on April 17, during with they will talk about difficulties in business, especially those relating to mechanisms, policies, tax, capital and product consumption. 

Luong Van Cu, ASVHO President, said such activities aim to honour outstanding disabled people, raise public awareness of contributions made by the disabled to the society and promote their start-up initiatives. 

Established in April 1992, the ASVHO aims to protect the rights and interests of disabled people and orphans.

It has raised more than 2.5 trillion VND (110.3 million USD) and received 268.2 billion VND (11.8 million USD) from the State budget to assist the disabled and poor with orthopedic surgery and rehabilitation, cataract surgery, vocational training and wheelchairs and bicycles.

The association has supported some 9.8 million handicapped people and orphans nationwide.

Meanwhile, the People’s Committee of the Mekong Delta province of Tien Giang held a meeting in My Tho city on April 12 to mark Vietnam Day of Persons with Disabilities. 

The event brought together more than 100 representatives of nearly 38,000 disabled people who are social welfare beneficiaries in the province. 

Vo Thi Chin, Vice President of the Association for the Support of Poor Patients, Handicapped and Orphans of Tien Giang province, said in 2017 her association mobilised more than 31 billion VND (1.3 million USD) in cash and in kind, conducted cataract surgeries for more than 400 patients and presented more than 170 wheelchairs and 350 scholarships to needy people, valued at some 1.8 billion VND (79,200 USD). 

The association will continue with donation mobilisation work, help the disabled with vocational training and work with the health sector to provide health care for them.

Among the 38,000 disabled people in Tien Giang, more than 6,100 are sick soldiers and nearly 1,200 are victims of Agent Organge (AO)/dioxin.