First hospital for poor women opens its doors in Da Nang

Hospital director Phan Gia Anh Bao said poor female patients could now access modern equipment in the 50-bed hospital.

Construction of the 630sq.m building began in 2007 with VND75 billion (US$4.4 million) from domestic and foreign organisations and individuals.

Women the city’s Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs Department lists as living in constant poverty are exempt from paying fees at the hospital.

Fees for women the city’s Poor and Disadvantaged Children and Women’s Support Association lists as having a monthly income of less than VND400,000 ($23) would be discounted 30 per cent, said the director.

The association would finance the hospital’s operation with help from domestic and international organisations and individuals as well as the municipal People’s Committee.

The idea to establish the hospital formed more than 10 years ago when the Da Nang Committee for Population Planning and Children director Le Thi Phuoc spoke at the municipal People’s Council about her hope of founding a hospital to give local women timely diagnosis and treatment.

Her hope was shared by other councillors, said the new hospital’s director Phan Gia Anh Bao.