VietNamNet Bridge – Le Minh Hien, head of Community Service Office in HCM City’s Cho Ray Hospital, wakes up early every weekend and goes to nearby provinces to give free screenings to poor and underprivileged children.

Le Minh Hien gives a gift to a poor little girl in Cho Ray Hospital. — Photo hiec.org.vn

Hien has spent a decade giving free surgery to more than 10,000 poor patients, including many children with congenital heart defects and cleft palate, using donation money which has now reached VND80 billion (US$3.4 million).

He said after dozens of his trips to provinces, including Ben Tre, Tra Vinh and Hau Giang, the thing that haunted him most was the eyes of children born in poverty and disease, he was quoted by the Tuoi tre (Youth) newspaper as saying.

“The ill children were born while their parents struggle to make a living,” he said, adding that some parents did not even have enough rice to feed their babies.

Hien said he once found a 12-year-old-girl with congenital heart defect in the Mekong Delta province of Tien Giang during one of his trips. She was in the sixth grade but looked like a fourth-grade student. Her father left when she was an infant, leaving her mother as the sole breadwinner of the household.

After Hien screened her in March, 2017, he told her to go to the Cho Ray Hospital for surgery.

The little girl immediately burst into tears and said her mother could not afford the fee.

“I reassured her to not worry because the surgery is free thanks to kind-hearted people,” he said.

And the girl agreed.

Another case Hien could not forget was a two-year-old boy from the southern province of Ba Ria - Vung Tau that was hospitalised in critical condition with a traumatic brain injury in 2007. His mother suffered from a mental disorder while his father did not have a steady job; earning his daily incomes as a manual labourer, so the couple could not afford the medical fee.

“At that time, I thought I would save the boy at any cost, I had to urgently find a donation,” he said.

Hien shared the story of the boy to a group of kind-hearted people and finally found a donor.

The story happened 11 years ago, now the child is a healthy teenager and is still in frequent contact with Hien.

Nguyen Thi Thu, of the coastal province of Khanh Hoa in south central Vietnam, said she took her three-year-old daughter to the hospital to treat her heart disease.

When she knew the medical fees could set her back as much as VND90 million (US$3,850), she thought of borrowing the money on the black market because she and her husband did not have a regular job.

“But fortunately, the office considered my family’s situation and decided to grant free surgery for my daughter,” she said.

Devoted to the poor

Working at the community service office of the hospital, Hien spends his weekdays handling medical records of poor and underprivileged people who are applying to receive financial support from donors.

Hien said the office received about 15 dossiers a day.

There were a lot of impoverished patients and there were just as many heartbreaking stories, he said.

“If I can not find donors for them, they might descend into a critical state. I’m always determined that I will never allow such situation to happen,” he said.

About 20 benevolent people have worked with the hospital for years to help poor patients.

Hien said regular donors included a female monk of a pagoda in HCM City’s Hoc Mon District and a woman living in HCM City’s Tan Phu District.

The office has 30 members. For years, they have launched various activities to support poor patients, such as organising a programme to give free haircuts and washes to patients every two months, providing 4,500 free meals for relatives of patients in the hospital daily and setting up counselling groups to instruct relatives of patients in the emergency department.

Nguyen Thi Thach, 59, of the southern province of Tay Ninh, said she felt very relaxed when she received a free haircut and hair wash.

Hien said he felt he was lucky because he was doing the job. He could help the poor and underprivileged people, especially children.

“Seeing the smile on the lips of the children is a source of motivation for me to continue this endless journey to help those less fortunate around the country,” Hien said.

Source: VNS