Hospitals create a joyous Tet for patients

 

HCM City (VNS/VNA) - Many hospitals in Ho Chi Minh City are carrying out programmes to help their patients enjoy the Lunar New Year season, or Tet, which falls on January 25.

The HCM City Oncology Hospital, for instance, will provide free buses for their patients who want to return to their hometown to enjoy Tet with their family on January 21. They also will be presented gifts including cash of 1 million VND (43 USD), cakes and milk from the hospital. 

The hospital’s 100 patients with the most financial difficulty on Tuesday received gifts from Vice President Dang Thi Ngoc Thinh as part of the Ngay Mai Tuoi Sang (Bright Future) Fund. 

Last week, the hospital and many sponsors organised Xuan Yeu Thuong (Loved Spring) Fair for child patients. At the fair, children played traditional games, and enjoyed food and art performances. They were gifted vouchers to buy goods at stalls in the fair.

Dr Pham Xuan Dung, the hospital’s director, said: “The hospital has nearly 200 inpatients including children and adults for treatment during Tet. The staff will organise various programmes for them to enjoy Tet at the hospital.”

One hundred of the poorest cancer patients at Thong Nhat Hospital also received gifts from Vice President Dang Thi Ngoc Thinh as part of the Bright Future Fund.  

The vice president said that the expertise of doctors and advanced techniques at hospitals in the country had helped many patients recover from cancer and that patients at the HCM City Oncology and Thong Nhat hospitals received excellent care.

Duong Thi Sau, 65, of Binh Tan district, who was treated at the hospital and one of 100 patients to receive gifts, said that she was happy with the gift from the vice president and hoped to be discharged from the hospital soon to enjoy Tet with her family.

On January 12, at Thu Duc District Hospital’s campus, 500 poor patients were eager to go to 40 booths to buy rice, clothes, rice cakes, jams and others without paying any đồng at the Phien Cho 0 Dong (Fair with Zero dong) held annually by the hospital.

At many booths, they were given 20,000 VND as a good luck gift for New Year. They were also offered free haircuts if they wanted.

Dr Nguyen Minh Quan, the hospital’s director, said the fair held twice a year to help poor patients has expanded to many wards in the district.

Cho Ray Hospital, HCM City’s most crowded hospital, has created a colourful flower street for patients to enjoy the Tet season.

The 200-metre flower street features nearly 30 mini-scenes decorated with apricot and peach blossoms as well as flowers, ornamental plants and popular symbols of Tet such as banh chung (square cakes) and watermelons.

Nguyen Tri Thuc, director of the hospital, said that for many Vietnamese, Tet is a special occasion for reunions with family members. Patients and their relatives who cannot return home for the Tet holiday can feel the cheerful spirit of Tet at the hospital.

The floral decorations were designed by health workers at 75 departments and units of the hospital.

It is scheduled to wrap up on January 28.

Tet gifts for AO victims

Twenty gift packages were presented to Agent Orange (AO)/dioxin victims in Hanoi on January 15 ahead of Tet.

Senior Lieutenant General Nguyen Van Rinh, Chairman of the Vietnam Association for Victims of Agent Orange/Dioxin (VAVA), said the programme, the second of its kind, had received warm support from organisations and individuals at home and abroad.

He added that from January 1 to 14, the association along with the Vietnam AO/dioxin magazine and sponsors, visited and presented Tet gifts worth over 1 billion VND (43,200 USD) to more than 1,200 victims across 23 cities and provinces nationwide./.