At 1 a.m., when the 87-year-old man woke up because of joint pain, Han Thi Hien massaged and comforted him. The man suffers from acute gout and is confined to a wheelchair at a public hospital in Hanoi’s Hai Ba Trung District. Since the patient's pain can appear at any time, Hien, 47, has to be on duty day and night. She feeds him, gives him his medicines and helps him stay clean. With more than five years of experience in taking care of patients in hospitals, she has been hired to take care of the old man for VND600,000 ($25) a day. "I lost the support of my husband and children and then had to fight breast and stomach cancer," she says, adding that she has taken up the job as a caregiver to both make a living and pay off her debts. Hien takes care of a patient daily at the hospital. Photo by VnExpress/Thuc Anh Hien has taken care of patients suffering from stroke, schizophrenia and cancer, of people who have to be fed through a tube. Every patient has … [Read more...] about Caregiver profession thrives in urban Vietnam