Ho Chi Minh City is urgently providing food allowances for leprosy, HIV, and mental health patients.

SKĐS - Ho Chi Minh City is urgently implementing a program to provide meal allowances and additional meal allowances during holidays and Tet (Lunar New Year) for leprosy, HIV/AIDS, drug-resistant tuberculosis, and psychiatric inpatients, aiming to ensure nutrition and care for these disadvantaged patient groups.

The Ho Chi Minh City Department of Health announced that it is coordinating with relevant units to urgently implement Resolution 58/2025/NQ-HĐND dated November 14, 2025, on the policy of providing meal allowances and additional meal allowances during holidays and Tet (Lunar New Year) for patients at Nhan Ai Hospital, Ho Chi Minh City Mental Hospital, Ba Ria - Vung Tau Mental Health Hospital, and Ben San Hospital.

According to the resolution, leprosy patients at Ben San Hospital; HIV/AIDS and drug-resistant tuberculosis patients receiving inpatient treatment at Nhan Ai Hospital; and mental health patients receiving inpatient treatment at Ho Chi Minh City Mental Hospital and Ba Ria - Vung Tau Mental Health Hospital will receive additional food allowances.

Patients receiving treatment at Nhan Ai Hospital. Photo: Kim Van.

Specifically, patients from poor and near-poor households registered as permanent residents in the city; patients without relatives to care for them, abandoned patients; homeless and destitute individuals with mental disorders who are brought in for treatment by the police; and patients from disadvantaged families such as those with family members suffering from serious illnesses, disabled individuals not yet receiving social assistance, or the primary breadwinners who have lost their ability to work... who are receiving treatment at the Ho Chi Minh City Mental Hospital and the Ba Ria - Vung Tau Mental Health Hospital will receive additional food allowance support.

For Ben San Hospital, support is only provided to leprosy patients after their condition has stabilized at the hospital but they still suffer from sequelae, have lost their ability to work, and cannot reintegrate into the community, so they remain living at the hospital (excluding patients currently receiving inpatient treatment at the hospital, as they already have a separate support program).

The support levels are specifically defined. Accordingly, leprosy patients at Ben San Hospital receive 85,000 VND/person/day; inpatients at Nhan Ai Hospital, Ho Chi Minh City Mental Health Hospital, and Ba Ria - Vung Tau Mental Health Hospital receive 170,000 VND/person/day. Patients receiving inpatient treatment at these three hospitals will also receive an additional food allowance of 255,000 VND/person/day during holidays and Tet (Lunar New Year).

According to current regulations, the number of public holidays for which additional support is granted is 11 days/year and will be adjusted according to the Labor Code.

The Ho Chi Minh City Department of Health requests that hospitals ensure that support for patients is provided to the correct beneficiaries and in accordance with regulations. Hospitals implementing policies to support patients with meals and additional meal allowances on holidays and Tet (Lunar New Year) throughout the year, through meals, food, or cash, must ensure that patients receive adequate nutrition and that the meal support is used directly for the benefit of patients.

Source: https://suckhoedoisong.vn/tphcm-khan-truong-ho-tro-tien-an-cho-benh-nhan-phong-hiv-tam-than-169251210185303407.htm