Free Da Nang hospital brings new hope for cancer patients

HCM CITY (VNS)— The central region's first oncology hospital will offer free treatment for indigent patients who have cancer when the facility in Da Nang opens next month.

Patients will no longer have to travel to Ha Noi and HCM City, and diagnoses will be made at earlier stages in the cancer, according to Nguyen Thi Van Lan, deputy chairwoman of Da Nang Association to Support Poor and Disadvantaged Women and Children, an investor in Da Nang Oncology Hospital.

Indigent patients in Da Nang and Quang Nam Province will initially be given priority and then patients from other central provinces.

Health insurance will cover some of the hospital costs, and the association will pay the remainder.

The relatives of patients treated overnight will be provided free meals at the charity canteen at the 500-bed hospital.

The hospital, which covers 15 ha, was built with total capital of VND1.3 trillion (US$61.9 million) from the city's budget, benefactors, enterprises, individuals and NGOs.

The Government helped fund the hospital to buy modern equipment, including a linear accelerator, computerised tomography scanner and others.

After receiving approval to build the hospital, its staff and doctors were sent for additional training to oncology hospitals in Ha Noi and HCM City.

Foreign cancer experts will be invited to work and conduct research at the hospital, according to Lan.

Doctors and nurses live in two nine-store buildings on the hospital campus.

To encourage medical staff to work for the hospital, doctors will receive their monthly regular salary as well as a bonus, which will be double the minimum monthly salary of a doctor at a state-funded hospital.

Because it is a non-public hospital, it has to be responsible for paying salaries for its staff and experts.

Lan said the association was continuing to seek funds from benefactors.—VNS