Hospitals should give parents a place to stay

Illustration by Đàm Minh Chí Viet Nam News By Bích Hường Four days after last Monday’s fire near National Children’s Hospital in Hà Nội, two human skulls were found in the rubble. A few days later, police confirmed the victims were a couple from the northern province of Phú Thọ who had been renting a room near the hospital so they could be near their premature baby. An investigation revealed the fire started at a rental house because of an overloaded electrical circuit. The house was a makeshift structure built of flammable materials that failed to meet construction requirements. The fire spread quickly, damaging 19 houses and affecting 99 people from 31 families. The rental house was known as a cheap place for poor people from outside to stay when their children required treatment at the hospital. Renters like the victims paid VNĐ 15,000 for a night’s stay, a rate much lower than other guesthouses in the area. A few dozen renters shared a large room, leaving each person just enough room to lie down. Almost all of the renters accepted the makeshift accommodations because the house was close to the hospital and because they – as parents and caregivers – wanted to save money to cover their children’s treatments. These news stories haunted me. I could not forget reading about the premature baby, which reminded me of the time I spent at the hospital with my daughter. One of the memories that stuck with me from that time is… [Read full story]