Free Hospitalization: A Policy That Touches the Hearts of Millions of People
Deputy Minister of Health Tran Van Thuan said that the General Secretary's direction on researching and developing a roadmap to gradually reduce the burden of medical costs for people, moving towards free hospital fees for all people in the period from 2030-2035, is a long-term strategic orientation that the health sector is determined to implement.
“This is a policy that touches the hearts of millions of people and is also the aspiration of the whole society. The implementation of this policy will create positive impacts, helping people have better access to health services, proactively prevent diseases, diagnose and treat early, thereby improving treatment effectiveness and optimizing the use of financial resources," said the Deputy Minister.
In the damp, cramped rented rooms of the "dialysis village" and "cancer village" in the heart of Hanoi , hundreds of people are struggling with illness every day, living in fragile hope.
Beside the simple bed, the bottles of medicine and the pile of hospital bills are all they hold on to, hoping for a tomorrow without burdens.
Families exhausted from hospital fees, selling their houses to give their children a few years of life (Video: Thanh Binh - Khanh Vi).
Illness not only wears down the body but also drains the family’s finances. Whether it’s cancer, kidney failure, or other incurable diseases, each month of treatment is a struggle with the haunting numbers on the bill.
For them, a free hospital policy is not simply about reducing economic pressure; it is about life, about the opportunity to continue fighting.
"Living a life of misery" because of illness and hospital fees
Ms. Nguyen Thi Thuong (41 years old, Hung Ha, Thai Binh) used to have a stable job before a cruel turning point came in 2013, when the doctor informed her that she had lupus erythematosus.
She stopped working and gave up all plans to get treatment. But the tragedy did not stop there, complications of end-stage kidney failure pushed her into a permanent journey of dialysis.
Encouraged by her family, in 2015, she went to Hanoi to fight for hope of survival. During a dialysis session at Bach Mai Hospital, she met Mr. Chu Duc Vuong (Ung Hoa, Hanoi) - a man who had been attached to a dialysis machine for 18 years.
Mr. Vuong is also one of the first residents of the "dialysis neighborhood" at lane 121 Le Thanh Nghi.
From the first dialysis sessions, they accompanied each other, sharing every simple meal. After a year of treatment together, two people with the same fate lived under the same roof, relying on each other through each day of illness.
Three times a week, Thuong and her husband go to the Kidney, Urology and Dialysis Center at Bach Mai Hospital. Each dialysis session prolongs their lives, measured in days.
On the days they are not on dialysis, they look for extra work. Their health is eroded by illness, and their salary is only enough to cover living expenses and medicine for the next period.
The cost for a patient undergoing dialysis is very high. Each dialysis session is covered by insurance at 556,000 VND, three times a week. In addition, some other endocrine functions cannot be replaced by artificial kidneys, so patients need to use drugs to increase red blood cells. Each bottle of medicine costs about 260,000 VND, with an average of 13 injections per month.
The total cost of dialysis and red blood cell-boosting drugs each month is up to 12-14 million VND/patient, a huge number for many families. For those without health insurance, this is truly an unbearable burden.
Even in cases where health insurance covers the cost of dialysis and red blood cell-boosting drugs, dialysis patients still have to buy dozens of other drugs to prevent complications, as well as relieve pain from all over the body due to kidney failure.
50m from Mr. Vuong's house is the residence of Pham Quoc Huy (born in 1998, Hanoi). The young man clearly remembers the fateful moment 10 years ago, when the university door had just opened and he received the news of end-stage kidney failure.
“I cried a lot and was sad a lot, but I gradually had to be optimistic. At that time, I asked the doctor to let me take the graduation exam, but I couldn't because my illness was too serious,” Huy said.
With student health insurance, Huy gets 80% off medical expenses, but when he first discovered the disease, the monthly cost of accommodation and medicine was up to 15-20 million VND.
Huy discovered he had kidney failure right before university.
“When I first got sick, I had to stay at Bach Mai Hospital for about half a year because I was so weak. My legs hurt and my eyesight was bad, so I couldn’t bear to travel far, so I had to stay near the hospital for convenience,” Huy recalled.
Looking at the medicine box with the familiar words printed on it, Huy saw the sweat, tears and blood of his family.
“When I went to get treatment, my parents could only borrow money because we were farmers in the countryside, so where would we get money? One person had kidney failure, and the whole family was in financial trouble,” Huy shared.
Currently, Huy is doing online business, trying to contribute to hospital fees and take care of himself.
Each resident of this "dialysis village" has a different story, coming from all over the northern provinces. Some have just arrived in Hanoi for a few months, some have been here for over 20 years; there are young people under 30 years old, and there are also old people who have gradually forgotten their homeland.
Each person has a different story, but they all share the same situation: exhausted both physically and financially due to kidney failure.
Every day, with their bodies full of diseases, kidney failure patients still do all kinds of jobs to make a living. Young people drive motorbike taxis, wash dishes; old people sell drinks, collect scrap metal, and look after patients. When their health no longer allows them to make a living, they have only one cruel choice: reduce food intake, reduce medication, which means shortening their own lives.
According to statistics, the rate of kidney failure (chronic kidney disease) in Vietnam accounts for about 10% of the population (more than 10 million people), with about 8,000 new cases each year.
Death from chronic kidney disease ranks 8th among the leading causes of death in Vietnam.
Having metastatic cancer still have to manage hospital bills by themselves
Just turned 18, Thao A Nung (born 2007, Lao Cai) had to fend for himself like many other young people, but with a big disadvantage: he only had one leg and the bone cancer had metastasized to his lungs.
Thao A Nung (born 2007, Lao Cai) has bone cancer.
Nung's family, who live in a poor mountainous area, could not afford to pay for his medical expenses.
At first, Nung was taken to Tan Trieu K Hospital by a sponsor (early 2023). After only one week of hospitalization, Nung was forced to have her leg amputated because the pain was unbearable.
When the funding ran out, the young man had to fend for himself for the monthly hospital bills.
“For the past 3 months, I have spent about 1 million VND per month on treatment, all of which was saved from donations from benefactors. I also thought I had to do something to pay for myself. Unfortunately, my body is too weak,” Nung sadly shared.
Double burden: 1 person sick, 2 people can't make money
Not only does the cost of treatment weigh heavily on the shoulders of terminally ill patients and their families, but caring for the patient also deprives the family of their main source of income, creating a double burden.
In a damp 4 square meter rented room near Tan Trieu K Hospital, Ms. Tran Thi Hien (born in 1975, Nam Dinh) could not hide her bitter voice: "My mother is old and weak, even if we cannot cure her illness, we must try to keep her healthy.
Ms. Hien and her children are staying near K Hospital.
Ms. Hien had to give up her sewing job, which used to bring in 5-6 million VND per month. "Now I have to take care of my grandmother. The last month I got 7 days of work, which was just enough to eat sparingly," she said.
According to the sharing, since her mother, Mrs. Tran Thi Chin (born in 1955), was diagnosed with uterine cancer at the beginning of this year, only Ms. Hien and her daughter-in-law took turns taking care of her.
“The first month of treatment at K Hospital, my daughter-in-law took care of all the paperwork and hospital fees because I was not clear about the procedures.
I just asked how much it would cost for her to have radiation therapy because my family didn't have the money. The doctor said the cheapest package for her would cost 13-14 million VND for 25 shots, not including chemotherapy.
Luckily, the family can still afford it now, but if the costs increase, we really don't know how to support my mother," Hien confided.
The burden was not only the hospital bills, but also the skyrocketing living expenses when the two had to stay and eat in the heart of the big city. With each passing day, the money in their pockets gradually decreased.
If kidney failure is a gradual process over many years, cancer is like a big storm, coming quickly and causing fierce destruction.
These days, Ms. Vu Thi Nhung (born in 1975, Thai Binh), mother of Trung - a patient with mediastinal tumor, is restless because she cannot earn extra income.
In November 2023, when his son was hospitalized in critical condition - with only 1% of his airway left, doctors had to perform emergency radiotherapy to save his life.
Ms. Vu Thi Nhung (born in 1975, Thai Binh) is Trung's mother - a mediastinal tumor patient.
During the next 7 months, after each chemotherapy treatment, after only 5 days, Trung had to be hospitalized for 15 to 20 days.
“Every time I am hospitalized, I have to spend 3 million VND/day to buy health supplements for my child,” Ms. Nhung choked up.
Having to leave work to care for her child turned into a double burden: huge hospital bills and loss of income. Even the family fortune gradually disappeared with each treatment.
The total amount has reached about 600 million VND, but Trung still cannot respond to the medicine. Although the treatment regimen only has 2 courses left (about 9 months) before he can be discharged from the hospital, the situation is not very optimistic.
As a result of the consultation, the doctors suggested using external medicine, because the medicine in Chinese insurance did not match any treatment regimen.
“When we heard that we had to use drugs that were not covered by insurance, even though the cost was much more expensive, my family only thought about saving our child. If we had a house, we would sell it, if we had land, we would sell it,” Ms. Nhung confided.
After switching to the new treatment regimen, Trung did not have to be hospitalized after each treatment, his hair grew normally and he was able to stay at a motel.
“My child’s treatment course is 35 sessions, each chemotherapy session costs about 60 million VND – a figure beyond the family’s means. If my child were still a child, they would have been supported with part of the cost, but now that he is older, those support policies are no longer available.
However, we are still lucky because the price of this treatment has been reduced by nearly 50%. It used to cost more than 100 million VND each time, but now it costs more than 60 million VND. That is still a huge burden, but at least there is hope,” said Ms. Nhung.
The huge hospital bill wiped out all of the family's savings. In October 2024, Ms. Nhung had to sell her only house to continue the fight for survival with her child.
“When switching to a new treatment regimen, I said, “I can only trust the doctor now. I will try my best to pay for my child,” Ms. Nhung shared.
Free hospital fees so that there is no more need to sell the last asset to save the life of a loved one
According to the World Health Organization, universal health coverage (UHC) means that everyone has access to the quality health care services they need, whenever and wherever they need them, without financial hardship.
The policy of providing annual health check-ups and free hospitalisation for all people is not only a health goal, but also sends a profound message: "Policy must originate from people, for people, for a sustainable Vietnam".
For Mr. Vuong, Ms. Nhung, the young Nung man or any person who is gradually exhausted by illness, information about the policy of free hospital treatment for all people is lighting up a great ray of hope.
Having spent nearly three decades on a dialysis machine, people like Mr. Vuong are not only familiar with physical pain but also understand the value of every penny. For them, money for treatment is life.
Having gone through all the harsh challenges of illness, Mr. Vuong was happy to hear that there was a policy of free hospital fees for people.
"Before insurance, I had to pay for dialysis myself, work part-time while receiving treatment, struggling day by day. It wasn't until 2005 that I was classified as a poor household, and the burden was somewhat lightened," Mr. Vuong shared. "Now that I hear that the State is researching free hospital fees, I'm very happy. I may not be able to enjoy it, but future generations will have less hardship."
Mr. Vuong also expressed his hope that in addition to the drugs listed in the insurance list, some types of complementary drugs, anti-complication drugs specific to kidney failure patients will also be supported in this policy. Although called complementary drugs, for kidney failure patients, this group of drugs greatly affects life and quality of life.
For Nung, just not having to worry about the 1 million VND expense each month is a great happiness. Because not only the illness, but also the mental pressure of hospital fees is eroding the strength and will of the young man.
Ms. Nhung hopes that the upcoming free hospital policy will cover advanced and highly effective cancer treatments, so that there will no longer be a situation where people have to make a cruel choice between their last assets and the opportunity to prolong the lives of their loved ones.
Photo: Hung Anh, Hai Yen
Video: Khanh Vi, Thanh Binh
Source: https://dantri.com.vn/suc-khoe/nhung-gia-dinh-cung-kiet-vi-vien-phi-me-ban-nha-doi-vai-nam-song-cho-con-20250602192725047.htm
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