Page 8 - CUHK MEDICAL ALUMNI Newsletter Issue 2 Vol 6 2017

CHARITABLE HEART
07

EYE DOCTOR SEES IT HER DUTY

AND SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY TO

HELP THE UNDERPRIVILEGED

r Ruby Ching lives by this
Dphilosophy… ”Everybody has
a duty and responsibility to make
society better.” To that effect, this ”No matter how high your
eye doctor has devoted herself
to doing charity work for the position is, your patient’s
underprivileged. health must always be your

Often, when not at work, she first priority.”
and other volunteers would arm
themselves with an eye chart
and instruments and set up a
make-shift mobile clinic to give - Dr Ruby Ching Hok-ying
eye checks to poor people, such as
street sleepers. （秦學瑩醫生, MBChB 1995）

”The Eye Care Charitable Foundation,
which some other kind doctors and I
set up, targets local underprivileged
people who, for example, are not
recipients of government subsidies.
Many street sleepers are not covered by
this safety net, or refuse to see doctors, singletons. She recalls that after
and so with the help of the Society for the operations, the patients
Community Organisation, SOCO, we went back to her clinic to have
offered our free services to this group of their eye patches removed.
people,” says Dr Ching. ”They were so excited and kept
talking and talking in my clinic.
They were so noisy.” But it gave her
immense satisfaction to see them so
happy because they were able to see
clearly again. It is a blessing, in a way, for society

Treating eye diseases can be an that Dr Ching is still passionate
expensive venture for the poor. about helping the underprivileged
While she and other volunteers do with their eye problems because -
all they can to help, there are some not many people know this - being
treatments that are beyond the reach an eye doctor had not exactly been
for some. The medication for macular her dream job. She had always
eye disease, for example, is very aspired to be a surgeon.
expensive - one Anti-VEGF injection
But Dr Ching’s charitable work is can cost as much as $10,000. And
not limited to the Foundation. She usually, one shot is not enough.
also volunteers for Christian Action,
a non-governmental organisation, Dr Ching has imparted her charitable
which caters for, among others, nature to her two teenage daughters.
refugees. Occasionally, she receives In fact, when they were younger,
calls from other NGOs for help. she would take them with her on
her voluntary rounds in hopes they
For instance, a couple of years ago, would learn about duty and social
some social workers asked if she responsibility. ”Now that it’s summer,
could perform cataract surgery I have asked them to go take up
on four of their clients, all elderly some voluntary work,” she laughs.