VietNamNet Bridge – At the age of 8, little girl Ngo Thi Kim Thuy contracts oedema, gout, kidney and heart diseases. Dozens of kids in the tomb hamlet in Ward 15, District 8, HCM City also contract fatal diseases.

Kim Thuy has a plump face and dimpled cheeks. She plays all the day near mossy graves. Suffering from many diseases, Thuy “consumes” all of her parents’ monthly income. Her kidney disease alone gobbles up tens of US dollars a month for chemical transfusion.

“She looks corpulently and healthy but it is not true. She swells because of chemicals,” said Thuy’s grandmother, Mrs Truong Thi Nhang.

Thuy’s brother, 17, also suffers from mental diseases. He was the first grader for five consecutive years but he cannot read.

Nhang said Thuy’s parents do many jobs, from collecting used bottles to building workers, but they cannot earn enough for their children’s treatment. Nhang stays at home to take care of the two ill kids.

Mr. Loc and Mrs. Thuy, whose three generations live in this tomb hamlet, have only one son named Khang, who contracted asthma at the age of five. The boy cannot go to kindergarten.

In this tomb hamlet, people eat and live near tombs. Waste and waste water is everywhere. All 24 families have patients (stomachache, lung disease, respiratory failure, mental diseases, cancer, tuberculosis, asthma, etc.) and they do not know why.

The eldest in the hamlet, Mrs. Tu Lun, over 70, has lived here for over 30 years. Pointing out to several tombs in front of her house, she said her youngest son and her son-in-law were buried there. One of them died of tuberculosis and the other was dead from unknown reasons.

“People said they contracted diseases owing to polluted water here, but I do not know why,” she said.

Mr. Nguyen Van Loc, 40, who was born and grew up in the hamlet, said his family settled here for over 30 years. His mother died ten years ago because of liver cancer. His father suddenly passed away by unknown reason.

Le Van Nhan, director of the HCM City Preventive Medicine Centre, said that dead bodies all have germs. When they are buried, germs can spread to the environment and cause diseases for the living.

Nhan said the state bans people from living in cemeteries. The Ministry of Health’s Circular 02 says that in normal conditions, the land where the dead is buried is allowed to be used for other purposes at least 10 years after the remain is removed.

According to local authorities, there are 39,000 migrants (20 percent) in Ward 15, District 8. There are five streets where migrants live near cemeteries.

The ward vice chairman, Le Minh Thong said that the ward authorities have asked HCM City government to remove tombs to turn these areas into residential zones.

PV