Free health checks-up for poor in HCM City

 

 HCM City (VNA) – As part of the
healthcare programme Care for Tet 2017, HCM City doctors have
been offering free health exams to residents in the city and neighbouring
provinces of Binh Phuoc, Dong Nai and Tay Ninh as well as to soldiers stationed
at border areas.

Doctors at the city’s Traditional Medicine
Institute in Phu Nhuan district on January 22 started providing free health
exams, ultrasounds and electrocardiograms to poor patients.

Many of the patients said they seldom visited
hospitals for exams, even though some of them suffer from various kinds of
ailments.

Nguyen Minh Tri, 56, of the district, said: “I
haven’t been able to hold anything in my left hand over the last several
months. However, I haven’t gone to a hospital.”

Dr Nguyen Tuan Anh, deputy head of the institute’s
Oncology Ward, examined Tri, who smokes two packs of cigarettes a day.

Anh said that Tri could be at risk of
atherosclerosis in which plaque builds up inside arteries, hardening and
narrowing the arteries and limiting the flow of oxygen-rich blood.

As atherosclerosis can cause serious
complications such as a stroke or heart attack, Anh scheduled an
electrocardiogram for Tri.

Another patient, Nguyen Hong Tham, 60, who also
lives in the district, has had allergic rhinitis for many years.

“However, I haven’t had time for examination and
treatment. Several days ago, I was told to go to the institute for a free exam.
The institute’s doctor advised me to get thread embedding, which is a kind of acupuncture
therapy, to treat allergic rhinitis,” Tham said.

The threads, which eventually dissolve, are
embedded into acupuncture points to stimulate them for 10-14 days.

“The free examination programme shows care for
the poor and for seniors before Lunar New Year. It’s very useful for us,” Tham
said.

After the exams, the patients were provided
gifts worth 1 million VND (44 USD) each. The institute also presented gifts to
30 poor inpatients.

From January 27-30, inpatients will be provided
free three meals every day.

On January 14, doctors and nurses at many city
hospitals visited Binh Phuoc province, the Xa Mat border gate in Tay Ninh, and
Dong Nai province to care for people with financial difficulties.

Health workers at Nhan Ai, Tu Du and Paediatrics
hospitals provided free medicine and health examination to 150 children, poor
residents, and those covered by special State policies that live in Phu Van commune
in Binh Phuoc province.

The team, including doctors and nurses from Cu
Chi and Thu Duc general hospitals and Oncology Hospital, visited Tan Lap district
in Tay Ninh province offered free exams and medicine for 500 poor people there.

They also presented gifts to soldiers stationed
at border gates.-VNA