Officials pay pre-Tet visits to cancer patients, poor people

                                                State Vice President Dang Thi Ngoc Thinh visits
A delegation led by State Vice President Dang Thi Ngoc Thinh visited the Hanoi-based Bach Mai Hospital on January 20, ahead of the Lunar New Year (Tet) holiday.

The delegation presented Tet gifts and 1 million VND (43 USD) in cash each to 100 cancer patients receiving treatment at the hospital.

It was part of activities initiated by the Supportive Fund for Cancer Patients - Bright Future in the lead up to the country’s largest traditional festival.

Director of the Bach Mai Hospital, Professor Dr Nguyen Quang Tuan, told the delegation that the hospital treated nearly 1.3 million patients last year, 123,000 of whom were inpatients.

It detected the first COVID-19 case on March 18 and went into lockdown 10 days later. More than 2,130 hospital staff were placed in quarantine, where they cared for 758 patients.

In her remarks, Thinh spoke highly of the hospital’s achievements in the recent past, especially in medical examinations and treatment, training and technology transfer, scientific research, and international cooperation.

She also lauded the development of the supportive fund for cancer patients over the last nine years, as its network has expanded to 72 hospitals, health centres, and departments of oncology nationwide.

The fund has to date offered assistance of more than 50 billion VND to over 28,000 cancer patients and provided cancer medicine worth 800 billion VND. It also arranged cancer screenings for over 72,000 people along with various measures to tackle and treat the disease.

On the same day, Deputy Prime Minister Trinh Dinh Dung presented Tet gifts to poor households, policy beneficiaries, disadvantaged workers, and children at the SOS Village in the northern province of Phu Tho.
He underlined that despite the difficulties of 2020, Vietnam was still able to meet most of its targets, adding that the Party and State always pay attention to people’s lives and ensure that no one is left behind.

Dung appreciated Phu Tho’s endeavours in ensuring social welfare, as its rate of poor families fell 1.52 percent against 2019.

He called on the province to further create a favourable investment climate and uphold local traditional values together with healthcare and education to improve people’s lives.

Meanwhile, a programme was held in Hanoi on January 20 to support local workers prior to Tet.

Handing over 50 gift sets to disadvantaged workers in the capital’s construction sector, General Director of the Vietnam News Agency Nguyen Duc Loi said he highly regarded the policies and initiatives adopted to ease the difficulties facing local workers and help them enjoy Tet.
President of the Hanoi Federation of Labour Nguyen Phi Thuong said the federation offered assistance of more than 37 billion VND to some 67,970 workers during the pandemic./.