Dr Phạm Hữu Nghĩa gives a gift to a poor patient. Photo tienphong.vn

QUẢNG NGÃI – Located in the mountainous area of Sơn Tây in central Quảng Ngãi Province, there is a special kiosk without a cashier or price tags that is full of clothes, rice and other essential items as well as the most valuable thing: unlimited sharing.

The zero-đồng kiosk in Sơn Tây Medical Centre was set up by young doctors and nurses and has been quietly spreading love for the past six years.

Since it started, health workers at Sơn Tây Medical Centre have not only saved people with their medical expertise, but have also healed them with love.

With a simple but kindhearted slogan (“Those in need receive, those who have, share"), the kiosk has become a major source of support for many patients in difficult circumstances every time they step through the gate of the medical centre.

The kiosk not only has second-hand stuff but is also full of brandnew necessities including diapers, baby clothes, milk, candy, cooking oil, rice,  and adult clothes.

These were all donated by friends and acquaintances of the doctors and nurses as well as other philanthropists. After donations are accepted, volunteers spend extra time after work to sort, wash and arrange them neatly.

For poverty-stricken patients, the zero-đồng kiosk is not only a place to get materials but for sowing seeds of hope.

“Whenever I received an item, I felt I was cared for by someone I did not know,” Sơn Tây Hạ Commune resident Đinh Thị Mùi told tienphong.vn.

As a founder of and major contributor to the kiosk, Dr Phạm Hữu Nghĩa said: “After witnessing too many patients in dificulties circumstances coming to the medical centre for check-ups and treatment, doctors and nurses set up this stall in 2019, hoping to ease the burden for patients.

“We want patients who come here to pick out items not to feel shy, but to feel loved and respected.”

Nghĩa and his colleagues once travelled more than 80km to the plains to ask for old clothes.

“I remember that on the way back to the centre, we got caught in heavy rain. All of the sacks of clothes got wet,” the doctor recalled.

“It was dark when we got to the centre, but other doctors and nurses were still kind enough to wash and dry the clothes to put in the kiosk, with the hope that when the patients came they felt the generosity, the sharing and caring,” he said.

Patients in need get essential items from the kiosk. Photo tienphong.vn

Once, a pregnant woman living in Sơn Tây Thượng was hospitalised to give birth to her first child.

Being quite young and inexperienced, she entered the centre empty-handed, without bringing any items for her child.

The doctors and nurses immediately prepared a gift bag from the stall including a few sets of newborn clothes, diapers and milk.

After receiving the gifts, the young girl was speechless before bursting into tears. It was not only the emotion of a new mother being helped, but also feeling a belief in humanity in the poverty-stricken highlands.

“We met patients who walked dozens of kilometres to the medical centre, bringing with them a fortune that was a few hundred thousand đồng. So the free-of-charge items helped them a lot,” Nghĩa said.

Over six years of maintaining the zero-đồng kiosk, the humanitarian efforts of health workers at Sơn Tây Medical Centre have not only contributed to building a positive image of compassionate doctors in the hearts of patients, but have also touched the hearts of colleagues and many other benefactors across the province.

For the past few years, the staff of the Haematology Department of Quảng Ngãi Provincial General Hospital have mobilised and donated old clothes and essential items to support Sơn Tây Medical Centre twice a year.

Deputy director of the Provincial General Hospital Dr Huỳnh Thị Thuận, along with other benefactors, regularly donates diapers, baby clothes, and other necessities to the zero-đồng stall.

Thanks to the generosity of these kind-hearted doctors and other healthcare staff, the stall in this remote highland area is always stocked with essential goods for patients in need.

For the team of doctors and medical staff at the centre, maintaining the zero-đồng stall has been a challenging journey. But as Dr Nghĩa said: “When we see a child with warm clothes, or a mother with a box of formula milk… all our weariness disappears.”

Starting as a modest initiative, the kiosk has now become a bridge of compassion connecting lowland and upland communities.

To date, more than 18,000 boxes of milk, 1,000 bottles of fish sauce and cooking oil, one tonne of rice, 65,000 sets of clothes, 1,000 pairs of sandals,  and 500 schoolbags have been delivered to patients. VNS