Bringing warmth and peace to every patient during Tet (Vietnamese Lunar New Year) and spring.

The festive atmosphere of Tet (Vietnamese Lunar New Year) has permeated every street corner, every home, and even the hospitals. The spirit of spring is evident in a series of activities dedicated to caring for patients during Tet, such as spring festivals, spring flower displays, and free transportation services. This caring and sharing spirit from the community has helped empower patients to overcome their suffering.

Enjoy the spring, and lighten the burden of illness.

After finishing his dialysis session, Mr. Tran Duc Long (73 years old, Tan Son Nhat Ward, Ho Chi Minh City) leisurely took his wife to the flower-lined street of Cho Ray Hospital to enjoy the spring festivities. Dozens of vibrant miniature landscapes, designed by the doctors and nurses themselves, seemed to bring the Lunar New Year earlier to the patients.

The scene was lively and heartwarming: people dressed in vibrant colors posing for photos, others livestreaming on social media with their phones. Sitting in her wheelchair, Mr. Long's wife couldn't hide the joy in her eyes, a stark contrast to the exhaustion from each dialysis session.

“My wife has been on dialysis for 18 years, and lately her health has been poor, making it difficult for her to move around. We’ve been strolling around and enjoying the scenery all morning, and the atmosphere is so cheerful. All the patients are smiling brightly, as if spring is coming. A cheerful spirit helps to lessen physical pain,” Mr. Tran Duc Long shared sincerely.

Mr. Tran Duc Long (Tan Son Nhat Ward, Ho Chi Minh City) takes his wife for a stroll at the Spring Flower Street of the Year of the Horse 2026 at Cho Ray Hospital (PHOTO: GIAO LINH)

At 85 years old, Mrs. Dang Thi Can (from Quang Ngai province) smiled toothlessly as she repeatedly changed into her traditional Tet dress for photos taken right in the hospital courtyard. For the past four years, she has been hospitalized at Cho Ray Hospital for treatment of heart disease, hypertension, and lung disease. Each hospital visit was a heavy psychological burden, but today Mrs. Can was so happy that she forgot all about her ailments.

"In the examination area, everyone felt tired and stressed, but once they reached the flower street, their mood completely changed because of the different atmosphere," shared Le Van Sang (52 years old), son of patient Dang Thi Can.

The spring flower street also provides a creative space for healthcare workers to freely express their ideas and convey life messages. According to Dr. Pham Thanh Viet, Deputy Director of Management at Cho Ray Hospital, most patients here come from many distant provinces and cities across the country, making travel very difficult, especially during the Tet holiday season.

Therefore, Cho Ray Hospital contacted many transportation companies to prepare buses to take patients home for Tet (Lunar New Year), alleviating the worries of patients being discharged during the days leading up to Tet. In addition, hundreds of gifts were also given to those who could not return home for Tet due to treatment requirements.

"Showing care and concern during the Lunar New Year is extremely important, helping patients and their families feel warmer and more comforted," Dr. Pham Thanh Viet expressed.

Providing practical care for patients in need.

To bring the Lunar New Year closer to patients who cannot fully celebrate the spring festival, hospitals in Ho Chi Minh City are simultaneously organizing many programs as a warm gesture of encouragement. Interspersed with daily medical examinations and treatments, Children's Hospital 1 in Ho Chi Minh City organized a competition for wrapping banh chung and banh tet (traditional Vietnamese rice cakes), creating a lively and enthusiastic atmosphere.

What's special is that each participating team includes healthcare staff, child patients, and their family members. This bonding creates additional motivation during the treatment process.

At An Binh Hospital (Ho Chi Minh City), the "An Binh Tet Festival - Zero-Cost Booths" program featured 7 booths… Inpatients from disadvantaged backgrounds were given vouchers to choose essential gifts for their families. Furthermore, over 1,300 gifts, including hundreds of cash and in-kind donations, were handed directly to poor patients receiving treatment there.

At the Ho Chi Minh City Oncology Hospital, the Ho Chi Minh City Police Department collaborated to organize the "Spring of Hope - Tet of Sharing" program, bringing a warm atmosphere to dozens of child patients. For many of the children, this was their first time playing the role of "little soldiers," acting as traffic police or firefighters with specialized equipment and vehicles that they had only seen on television.

Putting aside their illnesses and chemotherapy treatments, the children regained their innocence and reached for their "dream of becoming soldiers." After the role-playing games, the young patients participated in a spring festival, visiting stalls offering free toys, teddy bears, books, and comic books. The organizers distributed 250 Tet (Lunar New Year) gift packages (each containing milk, biscuits, and a lucky money envelope) to the children.

In Hanoi , the "Tet Market of Love" program organized by Bach Mai Hospital attracted a large number of patients and their relatives. Besides stalls selling essential goods for free, the hospital also organized a voluntary blood donation area – a combination of charity and social responsibility.

Mr. Nguyen Dinh Khang, President of the Vietnam General Confederation of Labor, highly appreciated the innovation of the Bach Mai Hospital Trade Union in transforming welfare activities into invaluable spiritual medicine for patients.

In the chilly weather of the days leading up to the Lunar New Year of the Horse, the kitchen at the Tam Hiep branch of K Hospital started cooking earlier than usual. Today, the chefs and medical staff were busy preparing a special menu: "The Loving Tet Program - Family Reunion Meal". On the long tables, the flavors of traditional Tet filled the air with green sticky rice cakes, fried spring rolls, and pork sausage.

Associate Professor Pham Van Binh, Deputy Director of Professional Affairs at K Hospital, said that the year-end meal program is a gesture of companionship and sharing from the hospital's medical staff and benefactors to the patients.

"We want to emphasize that the healing journey is not just about medicine, but also about connection," Associate Professor Pham Van Binh shared.

As a leading surgical medical facility in the country, Viet Duc Friendship Hospital (Hanoi) faces intense work pressure during the end of the year. Despite this, the doctors still strive to bring warmth to the spring season with the "Spring of Love, Tet of Sharing" program. More than 600 Tet gifts, totaling over 2.2 billion VND, have been donated to patients in difficult circumstances.

According to Associate Professor Dr. Nguyen Manh Khanh, Deputy Director of Viet Duc Friendship Hospital, the program not only provides material support to patients but also helps build a humane hospital culture. In particular, the image of the "Vehicles of Love" silently rolling from the hospital gates towards distant provinces and cities has become a symbol of compassion and kindness.

Over the past year, from Viet Duc Hospital, these "vehicles of love" have traveled more than 51,000km to bring patients back to their hometowns free of charge. This Tet season, the wheels continue their journey, carrying the joy of reunion for families already exhausted and weary from illness.

On the morning of February 6th, Comrade Le Quoc Phong, Standing Deputy Secretary of the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee, attended the opening ceremony of the Spring Flower Street 2026 at Cho Ray Hospital.

Here, he kindly inquired about and presented gifts to patients in difficult circumstances who had to stay for treatment during the Lunar New Year holiday.

GIAO LINH - KHANH NGUYEN - THANH AN

Source: https://www.sggp.org.vn/mang-tet-am-xuan-an-den-voi-moi-nguoi-benh-post837527.html