Child patients enjoy Xuân Yêu Thương (Loved Spring) Fair at HCM City Oncology Hospital held on January 5. Photo courtesy of the hospital

HCM CITY — Many hospitals in HCM City are carrying out programmes to help their patients enjoy the Lunar New Year season, or Tết, 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 Tết with their family on January 21. They also will be presented gifts including cash of VNĐ1 million (US$43), cakes and milk from the hospital.  

The hospital’s 100 patients with the most financial difficulty on Tuesday received gifts from Vice President Đặng Thị Ngọc Thịnh as part of the Ngày Mai Tươi Sáng (Bright Future) Fund.  

Last week, the hospital and many sponsors organised Xuân Yêu Thương (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 Phạm Xuân Dũng, the hospital’s director, said: “The hospital has nearly 200 inpatients including children and adults for treatment during Tết. The staff will organise various programmes for them to enjoy Tết at the hospital.”

One hundred of the poorest cancer patients at Thống Nhất Hospital also received gifts from Vice President Đặng Thị Ngọc Thịnh 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 Thống Nhất hospitals received excellent care.

Dương Thị Sáu, 65, of Bình Tân 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 Tết with her family.

Last Sunday, on Thủ Đức 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 Phiên Chợ 0 Đồng (Fair with Zero đồng) held annually by the hospital.

At many booths, they were given VNĐ20,000 as a good luck gift for New Year. They were also offered free haircuts if they wanted.

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

Chợ Rẫy Hospital, HCM City’s most crowded hospital, has created a colourful flower street for patients to enjoy the Tết  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 Tết such as bánh chưng (square cakes) and watermelons.

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

Tết gifts for AO victims

Twenty gift packages were presented to Agent Orange (AO)/dioxin victims in Hà Nội on Wednesday ahead of Tết.
Senior Lieutenant General Nguyễn Văn 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 Tết gifts worth over VNĐ1 billion (US$43,200) to more than 1,200 victims across 23 cities and provinces nationwide. — VNS