Never Forgo People Being Forgotten

The Bible verse: "whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me" has founded and nourished Dr Eric Leung Siu-fai's perseverance in voluntary work for over 20 years.

 

Determined to help those being forgotten in the society, Dr Leung has worked as volunteer-dentist in different organizations since graduation. At that time, the government dental service covered only tooth extraction. Unable to afford private treatment, the vulnerable groups could have no choice but remove their teeth regardless of types of dental problems. Damaged appearance due to losing teeth could affect one's social life and job opportunities, leaving severe blow to one's self-confidence. Dr Leung hopes to fill the service gap by providing more comprehensive dental services for the vulnerable, so as to help them regain self-esteem and resume their normal life.

 

Serving the Vulnerable Against all Odds

In 1992, Dr Leung joined the Christian Concern for the Homeless Association as its first volunteer-dentist. For 23 years, he has been providing regular dental service in the Association for the vulnerable, including street sleepers, vagrants, people with low income, rehabilitated drug addicts, and residents of psychiatric rehabilitation hostels. So far, over 2,000 people have been benefited.

 

The Association's dental clinic has limited resources and facilities. Hence, Dr Leung would buy dental equipment out of his own pocket, or appeal to his peer dentists for donation. He also pays visits to street sleepers and vagrants. In recent years, he has extended his voluntary dental service to the Association's two sheltering centres for vagrant-children in Fujian, mainland China.

Due to newly revised regulations for dentists, in 2012, the Association had to close its dental clinic. Desperate for serving the needy, Dr Leung cooperated with the Association to set up the non-profit-making Agape Dental Foundation for running dental service in accordance with the new regulations. Their suspended clinic eventually re-opened in 2014. During the transition, Dr Leung continued to provide free service for those with urgent dental needs at his own private clinic. He did not want them to forgo treatment, as their background made transferal to other clinics less likely.

At present, Dr Leung is helping the Association to apply for funding for extending its dental service to cover more complicated surgeries such as root canal therapy, so as to offer more timely treatment for people in need.