Free 300-bed hostel for poor patients

HO CHI MINH CITY – A three-storey house with a total usable area of ​​more than 1,200 m2 with all basic utilities is open for free, helping many poor people reduce their burden when they come to the city for treatment.

The hostel is a two-storey house on 1A street, Gian Dan quarter, Long Thanh My ward (Thu Duc city), located about a kilometer away from Ho Chi Minh City Oncology Hospital, started operating more than a month ago.

Mr. Nguyen Minh Tuan, the manager said, the owner of this hostel is his relative. They built a house two years ago but it was interrupted because of the Covid-19 epidemic, so far, they have only begun to accept patients. “In the past, a family member who died from cancer should understand the difficulties of the poor, patients who live far away in Saigon for treatment and decided to build this free housing complex,” said Mr. Tuan.

In addition to a small room on the ground floor for offices and reception areas, the entire space of the floors is equipped with beds for patients and relatives to stay. The scale of the whole resort can book nearly 300 beds, but currently there are only more than 20 people, so it has not been listed. Not only free accommodation, each person when staying in is also given blankets, mats, pillows to use without paying any extra costs.

The remaining area, the owner designed each floor with a kitchen hall, four bathrooms and a toilet, a corridor. The kitchen is equipped with dishes, pots and pans, a stove, and a water purifier.

The manager said that because there were not many sick people here, they only hired a cleaner and a security guard on the night shift. “We currently lose about ten million dong in operating costs per month and can be up to 50 million if there are many people,” said Mr. Tuan.

On the morning of June 19, Mr. Tuan visited and asked a patient from Lam Dong who had just arrived for nearly a week. Most of the patients here are being treated for cancer, each with a relative to take care of.

Mr. Tuan said, the registration process is simple, regardless of patients, just need to present their citizen identification and relevant medical records. “When we build free houses, we just want to help them alleviate their poverty and reduce a part of the cost burden,” he said.

Mrs. Le Thi Kim Linh, a native of Binh Dinh, transmits food to her husband with a tube. Ms. Linh and her husband are the first people to stay at the homestay since its inception. Her husband had throat cancer, had to stay in treatment for a long time.

The 57-year-old woman said that when they first came to Saigon, the first few days they stayed in a 5 m2 motel for 100,000 VND per day, just enough for two people. “It’s spacious and airy here, so it’s very comfortable. The house has all basic amenities, and it can save a few million rent a month,” said Ms. Linh.

In the next bed, Ms. Le Thi Hoang Linh (40 years old, from Khanh Hoa) takes care of her husband with tongue cancer. Each time she went to the city, she and her husband stayed at home for one to two weeks.

In her hometown, she worked as a worker, her husband went to the fields to support three children and an elderly mother. From the day she went to the city for treatment, her children stayed at home to take care of each other, especially the youngest child was sent to her grandmother. The family had to borrow from relatives and borrow from the bank up to now 200 million VND for treatment. “Every day alone, the cost to feed the patient is also about 300,000 VND, fortunately there is free accommodation so the burden is less, thank you very much to the owner,” she said.($1=24,000 VND)

In the 1.5m-wide corridor, Mr. and Mrs. Phan Van Hai, from An Giang, had lunch. The meal is charity rice, Mr. Hai cooks more vegetables and meat for his wife to eat. The 53-year-old man said that his wife had been diagnosed with breast cancer for two years and had to stay for a long time for treatment. In the countryside, both husband and wife work as hired laborers, and they spend all their money on medicine for their wives.

With no relatives to take care of, Le Thi Sang, 41, quietly eats lunch in the corner of her bed. She herself suffered from stage two uterine cancer, her husband also had an accident in the hospital in Tay Ninh, so she went to the city alone for treatment.

“Here, healthy people help buy food, cook, and talk to each other, so I feel less lonely,” said Ms. Sang.

The owner puts in each room a free food stall, including instant noodles, rice, milk, fruit… supported by friends.

Currently, the remaining rooms on the upper floor are still unoccupied. “In the near future, when there are more, I will associate with a charity cooking establishment, give gifts or make birthdays for the sick people who are here,” the manager said.

Being close to the guesthouse, since the facility’s operation, 35-year-old Nguyen Van Tuan works as a motorbike taxi driver to transport patients to the doctor. He said he had witnessed a case where a patient was tricked by a motorbike taxi driver and took a short trip but took 300,000 VND. “Each hoe I only take 10,000 VND as if it’s enough to fill up gas, but whoever asks to buy groceries and medicine is free,” Tuan said.

Ms. Sang burned incense in front of the Bodhisattva statue arranged at the entrance to the residence.

According to a representative of the People’s Committee of Long Thanh My Ward, when the charity hostel comes into operation, the locality will support temporary residence and guide difficult patients to visit the city so that they can rest assured to stay and treat.

Photo: Internet (vnexpress)

Đăng bởi: Hằng Nguyễn