Young people visit the Social Work Department of HCM City Children’s Hospital 1 to offer financial support for patients in need. — VNA/VNS Photos

HÀ NỘI — Young people inspired by TikTok influencers using their platform for good have embraced a new trend: paying hospital bills for strangers.

While donating to underprivileged patients has long been common at hospitals’ social work departments, videos that have gone viral in the past few weeks have raised public awareness, with noticeable results.

In early August, TikTok influencer Lương Đỗ started receiving widespread support and positive comments for his video series titled ‘Paying hospital bills for strangers'.

In these short-form clips, Lương Đỗ shared his visits to the Social Work Department of HCM City Children’s Hospital 1 to donate to child patients from disadvantaged backgrounds, helping to cover part of their medical expenses.

The first patient he helped was a child with congenital heart disease whose total treatment costs were nearly VNĐ100 million (US$3,800). With insurance coverage, the child’s family still had VNĐ11 million ($420) in medical bills to pay, which was beyond their financial ability.

Along with support from the hospital’s social work department, Lương Đỗ made a donation to cover the remaining VNĐ4 million to completely pay off the child's hospital fees.

He later returned to the hospital twice more to assist two other child patients in need.

Lương Đỗ explained that as a child, his health was not always great, and he had been hospitalised several times. Due to the financial challenges that his family was facing, he said he understood the feeling of despair when lying in a hospital bed, knowing that his family could hardly afford the fees.

Now in a stable financial situation as an adult, he has donated to hospitals multiple times, but recently decided to share his story on TikTok in the hope that his actions would inspire others to do the same.

“Wherever you are, you can go to a public hospital and find its social work department to support patients in underprivileged circumstances,” said Lương Đỗ in one of his videos.

Other popular Vietnamese TikTokers, such as Long Chun and MC Khánh An, have also followed suit by donating to their local hospitals and encouraging their followers to do the same. A Facebook user named Uông Thục Quyên also posted pictures of the donations she made, sharing how she has been "in on the trend" for the past three years.

Chu Văn Thành, deputy head of the Social Work Department at Children’s Hospital 1, said he was surprised to see these videos go viral.

This was not the first time they received donations from the public, he said, but he had never seen such a high level of attention and positive impact before.

Thanks to the viral videos, the hospital has recently welcomed many young people eager to learn how they can help paediatric patients in need.

“We didn’t expect the ‘paying hospital bills for strangers’ trend to have such a positive effect. Surely, more disadvantaged children will receive help, giving them and their families renewed faith and hope for the future,” said Thành.

Nguyễn Tiến Hoàng Thanh, a 33-year-old mother in HCM City, was deeply moved to see this charitable action become viral among the online community.

Two years ago, strangers also helped cover the cost of her son’s life-saving liver transplant, which would have been an enormous burden for her family.

“I can’t hold back tears every time I think about it. I’m so grateful to those strangers who helped my son,” said Thanh.

“I especially remember one man who was only able to donate VNĐ26,000, but it showed how much he cared. I remember them all and remain deeply grateful.”

When her son recovered, she paid it forward by helping other child patients, sometimes using her own limited savings to support them, passing on the compassion she once received.

At HCM City Children's Hospital 2, the Social Work Department also welcomes more than 500 benefactors each month, and coordinates to provide support to about 1,000 disadvantaged children under treatment at the facility.

“All donor contributions are directly handed over to the patients’ families through hospital payment receipts. This process is witnessed and facilitated by our department to ensure transparency and proper use,” said Nguyễn Thị Thúy, the department’s deputy head.

Lê Minh Hiển, head of the Social Work Department at Chợ Rẫy Hospital in HCM City, receives donations for patients in need from benefactors.

Meanwhile, the Social Work Department at Chợ Rẫy Hospital in HCM City receives more than VNĐ10 billion ($380,500) and assists over 1,000 patients every year, primarily covering their hospital fees, according to department head Lê Minh Hiển.

“We carefully verify each case and create a list of patients in need to share with donors. Depending on their wishes, we then directly pay the hospital fees, purchase health insurance cards or gifts for patients,” he explained.

Hiển added that many benefactors had quietly supported disadvantaged patients for years, not only helping people in need through critical moments, but also embodying Việt Nam’s tradition of solidarity.

Such acts of kindness should be sustained, he said, so that compassion and hope continue to ripple through the community. — VNS