VietNamNet Bridge – According to a research work by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in Hanoi and HCM City in 2010, 1.47 percent of interviewees in Hanoi and 3.77 percent in HCM City said they didn’t go to hospital for examination because they didn’t have money.

 
Mrs. Hong and her husband.

This is the second reason why people to go to hospital. The top reason is that they people think their illness is mild and therefore, it is unnecessary to see doctors.

Ly Ngoc Kinh, former Chief of the Health Examination Management Department under the Health Ministry and Vice Chairman of the Vietnam Health Economic Science Association, said that there is a paradox in Vietnam: Most patients are poor people but they also use healthcare services less than others. Around 40 percent of the poor patients don’t get any treatment because they don’t have money.

This shows that is the finance is the biggest hindrance for the poor. Many people have to live with uncured diseases. VietNamNet will publish a series about pitiful plights that need our readers’ help.

Woman leaves hospital to wait for death

Mrs. Pham Thi Hong has contracted a fatal disease. As a poor woman, who also doesn’t have health insurance, she didn’t tell her children and left hospital to wait for death at home.

Hong, 61, from the northern province of Lao Cai suffers from liver cirrhosis, in its last stage. Before going to the Cancer and Tumor Hospital in Hanoi, doctors in Lao Cai founda cyst . Her children doubted the diagnosis so they urged her to go to Hanoi for examination.

“I was shocked when doctors told me that I had contracted liver cirrhosis. They said that I should have treated this disease for a long time. I heard that it was very costly so I didn’t want to stay at hospital,” Hong told VietNamNet.

Asked  about health insurance, Hong said: “I’m poor but in my hometown, there are many people who are poorer than me. So my family is not listed among poor households and so we are not subsidized. Therefore we can’t pay for health insurance”.

Ten buffaloes are the most valuable assets of her family. She sold six of them to cover the traveling expenses to Hanoi.

“My children forced me to go to hospital. They said they only had one mother. If I die, they don’t want to live anymore. I love my children so I had to sell the buffaloes. I had planned to breed them until another time to give them to my daughter as dowry when she gets married”.

Since she was hospitalized at the Cancer and Turmor Hospital in Hanoi inJuly 2010, she has spent the whole money from selling buffaloes. She once left the hospital without telling her children to come home to wait for death but the children again forced her to go to Hanoi.

To save money, she stays at a cheap inn for poor people. She only pays VND5000/night ($0.25) or VND10,000 for awhole day. She takes bus to the hospital to purchase medicine or to take chemical treatment because the inn is very far from the hospital.

“I can’t afford to pay for the inns near the hospital because it is VND60,000-70,000/night ($3-3.5),” she said.

Though she is very weak and her husband goes to Hanoi to take care of her, Mrs. Hong doesn’t allow her husband to take the bus to hospital with her because it would cost VND6000for the bus fare.

To save money for special medicines, which are very expensive, the old couple skips breakfast. They share a food ration, which is enough for one, worth VND15,000 ($0.75) at lunch and dinner. Hong said the treatment will be very long so she has to be thrifty.

Seeing his parent’s food ration, the son named Duong Van Thanh cried: “How can you live with that food!” but there was nothing he could do.

Thanh and his wife are workers in Hanoi. He works for a blanket and pillow stall at Dong Xuan market and his wife is a waitress at a restaurant at Phung Hung market. The couple earns VND3 million ($150) a month. Their six-year-old son now lives with his maternal grand-parents in the countryside.

 
The VND15,000 meal of Mrs. Hong and her husband.

“Every five days my son? comes to the inn to give me the money for the accommodation. Sometimes he can’t get any money, so he beggs the inn owner to delay the payment. He is afraid that I will go home if he can’t pay the fee,” Mrs. Hong said.

“My daughter works 20 hours a day. She loves me very much. She always tells me that she has everything if she has me. Though they are illiterate, my children are always grateful to their parents,” Mrs. Hong said and burt into tears.

The daughter who is working at home covers the expenses on Mrs. Hong’s medicines and chemical treatment. The Cancer and Tumor Hospital added her to the list of poor patients who can sometimes receive small gifts from philanthropists, etc.

However, the latest news is that Mrs. Hong is returning home. She only goes to Hanoi whenever she is in great pain or to purchase medicines and get the medical treatment.

“She returned home because she sold her buffaloes and her children couldn’t get enough money for further treatment,” said Mrs. Thuc, the owner of the inn where Mrs. Hong stayed.

Cam Quyen