A nationwide charity tour for helping poor people in the
prevention and treatment of liver diseases was initiated in Beijing
on Sunday.
The three-year program is cosponsored by the China Charity
Federation and a pharmacy company under Haier Group based in
Qingdao City in eastern China. It plans to assist hundreds of
thousands of poor liver patients in the country.
The program will offer free-of-charge diagnoses to 100,000 poor
patients, distribute free medicine to 10,000 patients who are from
very poor families, and give financial assistance to 1,000 families
that have been impoverished owing to the liver illness of their
members.
According to official figures, 130 million Chinese are carriers
of virus of liver diseases of different species, while 30 million
suffer from hepatitis-B. Some of these patients do not have money
for treatment.
(Xinhua News Agency October 24, 2005)