Giving Back
Hanwha Life Insurance Co. has built and donated a public health center to an underdeveloped region in Vietnam, and health insurance cards to underprivileged people there as well.
The company set up the health center in Bac Phong, Cao Phong District, Hoa Binh province, northern Vietnam, and donated it to the local government on Oct. 30. The building was completed seven months after construction first started in April. With a total of eight health facilities, including a medical examination room, emergency room, delivery room, patient room and vaccination room, local residents can now be provided comprehensive medical health care services.
With a population of 44,485, Bac Phong is the region where local residents cannot be offered proper medical services, since existing provisional health centers are so outdated that they cannot use treatment rooms and emergency rooms. It is even impossible to diagnose and treat common diseases such as respiratory infection, diarrhea, climate-related skin disease and waterborne disease.
In particular, the delivery rooms in public health centers are so old that pregnant women cannot give birth, and there are no children vaccination or first aid facilities. Accordingly, the mortality rate for children under five is very high. When a child needs treatment, his parents need to visit a distant hospital. However, it is not easy either due to the unpaved, rural roads.
The opening ceremony of Bac Phong Heath Center was attended by 120 people, including Hanwha Life Vietnam Head Baek Jong-guk and Cao Phong Province People’s Committee Vice Chairman Ho Xuan Dung. The Vietnamese officials expressed their gratitude for Hanwha Life’s continuous corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities. Hanwha Life also donated a kindergarten to Hoa Binh province last year.
As a life insurance company, Hanwha Life is the first Korean company entering the Vietnamese market to donate health insurance cards. The company donated 9,925 health insurance cards to underprivileged people in 11 regions such as Binh Dinh and Ho Chi Minh in April and May this year and last year. With the donation, a total of 20,347 people have had medical services.
In Vietnam, people have to personally purchase health care cards every year. The government provides 70 percent of the cost to underprivileged people. However, the elderly, physically challenged and children cannot afford the remaining 30 percent of the cost. That is why Hanwha Life purchases health care cards for them.
The company has been also carrying out the “Building Houses with Compassion” project. The Vietnamese government donated a portion of its state-owned land for the project, and Hanwha Life finished the construction of the 12 houses and donated them to low-income families in order to help them be financially independent. Through the project, which began in 2013, Hanwha has donated a total of 145 houses to Vietnamese people in need.