Lê Thanh Truyền, a final-year student of HCM City-based University of Medicine and Pharmacy, volunteers to give medicine bags to COVID-19 patients in HCM City. Photo vietnamnet.vn

 HÀ NỘI — Lê Thanh Truyền, a final-year student of HCM City-based University of Medicine and Pharmacy, starts his voluntary job bringing medicine to self-monitoring COVID patients across the city at 7am every day.

The first thing he does when arriving at university is to have a quick meeting with the voluntary team’s coordination committee.

After the meeting, he receives the medicine and information of the patients, quickly takes his medical protective clothing and drives his motorbike to the patients’ homes.

Truyền says he often registers to bring the medicine to about four to five COVID-19 patients each day if he travels alone because houses of the patients are located in different districts and it takes time to travel between them.

If he goes with another teammate, they can register to bring the medicine to 10 patients each, he said.

Truyền said he not only brought the medicine to the patients, he also instructed them how to take care of their physical and spiritual health.

Before going to the patient's home, Truyền often calls them to confirm in order to avoid cases where patients have moved to hospitals for further treatment because their situation got worse, he said.

Hard but worth doing

There is a lot of hardship in his voluntary job.

Sometimes, he has to wait very long for patients to open their doors although he always calls them ahead to inform that he is coming.

Sometimes, he has to make a detour to go to the patients’ house to avoid lockdown areas, he said.

“Wearing the medical protective clothing and driving the motorbike when it is very sunny is an uneasy feeling.” 

However, Truyền said he thought the job was worthwhile.

On his journey giving medicine to patients, one day, when Truyền came to a patient’s house, the patient had already gone to hospital to take care of a relative, who was also a COVID-19 patient, because the relative’s situation worsened.

Truyền moved from the patient’s house to the hospital to bring the medicine bag for the patient.

The patient was very surprised and thanked him many times while Truyền gave him the medicine and instructed him how to use the medicine.

Many patients even shed tears when they received the medicine from Truyền, he said.

“It makes all my hardship disappear,” he said.

Besides, Truyền feels very happy when patients call him and informed they have negative for SARS-CoV-2 after several days using the medicine. 

"It's a great joy that cannot be described,” he said.

After finishing his voluntary job every day, Truyền goes home to continue his graduation thesis.

Truyền said: “I always try to make use of the time I have to deliver the medicine. It’s a way to join hands with the authorities to fight against the pandemic.” — VNS