Showing his great concern for the physical and mental pains suffered by Vietnamese Agent Orange (AO)/dioxin victims, Singaporean billionaire Harold Chan Soo York has given material and cash donations worth dozens of billions of Vietnamese dong to help them access better healthcare.

After reading a story about dioxin in a Singaporean newspaper which told of the powerful mixture of chemical defoliants used by the US military forces during the American War, the 73-year-old billionaire carried out his own research and visited the Da Nang Association of Victims of AO/dioxin (DAVA) in April 2015.  Since then, he has returned to the Association 10 times with the aim of finding effective medical support methods for the victims.

Harold Chan Soo York (middle) and an AO-affected boy

Harold said that, although Vietnamese AO victims have received a lot of financial aid from generous international and domestic individuals and organisations, they still lack the necessary medical research and support.  That is the reason why, on 29 November 2015, he donated a 33 billion VND Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scanner to the Da Nang General Hospital.  The intention was to offer free medical examinations and treatment to AO victims, as well as other disabled and poor people in general. 

Two days later, doctors from the Da Nang General Hospital medically examined some of the AO-affected children who are under the care of the Support Centre for AO Victims in Hoa Vang District.  The children were then provided with, if needed, MRI scans and surgery.

Harold has also spent 1.4 billion VND on a recently-built residential home for 20 AO children who are totally paralysed.  Since April 2015, he has donated 3,000 USD per month to DAVA in order to help it maintain its operations.

For several decades Harold worked as a systems engineer for the International Business Machines Corporation.  Now he is the owner of a currency exchange company in Singapore, and owns a farm in New Zealand.  He has 2 daughters who now have their own independent lives.