Realizing that many poor patients bear significant financial burden on treatment costs and expenses for hospital transfers, hospitalization or hospital discharges, Mr. Le Tu Hoang Tuan, 37, a resident of Da Nang's Hai Chau District, has decided to establish a charity club to offer free transportation to poor patients to help them return their hometowns. Till date, the club provided more than 600 free transportation trips for these patients across Central Viet Nam, and other parts of the country.

Members of the charity club (left and right) are always ready to support poor patients to return home safely.

Mrs Le Thi Be Tuyet, 40, a resident of Duc Pho District, Quang Ngai Province, and his son are among the poor patients who have received help from the charity club. She said that his son needs chemotherapy for cancer treatment at least twice a month at the Da Nang Hospital of Obstetrics and Gynecology but her family is living in poor circumstances. Therefore, the cost of transportation between her hometown and Da Nang is more than VND 500,000 VND which is high expense she could not afford.

Fortunately, she got to know the charity club through the recommendation of the doctors and nurses at the hospital. She said she was really touched by the support from this club to bring her and her son back home safety after her son underwent chemotherapy to treat cancer.

Similarly, Mr. Phan Minh Sang , a resident of Quang Nam Province, has taken two free transportation trips to return home. Although the club’s members are strangers to him, they always kindly encourage him to overcome his illness.

Established in 2019, the charity club now has about 20 members, and it mainly provides free transportation for poor patients to return home across Central Viet Nam. Besides, the club is still ready to help those who live further from the central region. During the first month of the club's establishment, Mr. Hoang Tuan and his associates mainly used their personal vehicles and paid for charity transportation trips from their own pockets. After that, many like-minded people joined the club to support poor patients.

Over 2 years of its operations, the club has actively called for funds to support poor patients, and it has received enthusiastic response from individuals and organizations inside and outside the city.  In addition to transporting poor patients from hospital to their hometowns free of charge, the club is also ready to provide deceased transportation assistance in order to help poor families bring dead bodies of their relatives who died in hospital to their hometowns for burial. Family of a decreased ethnic minority girl who died from cancer was helped with transportation to her hometown in Nam Tra My District, Quang Nam Province for burial as an example.

Especially, the club's members have driven for days to bring many poor patients to their hometowns as far as Ho Chi Minh City or Ha Noi.

"The club’s members have different jobs but I and other members of the club are ready to provide transportation support for poor patients after receiving a call for help from the club's chairman. It doesn't matter how far we will go. Poor patients have different circumstances so we want to lend a helping hand to them in efforts to provide spiritual support for them to help them cope with the challenges of illness. I believe that we can make a lasting impact on our community by giving back to society. Transportation trips to bring poor patients to return home helped me have different emotional experiences as well as realize that I am luckier than many people. We always tell ourselves that as long as we are healthy, we will continue to do meaningful volunteer work”, said Mr. Nguyen Cuu Loc, a member of the club.

Many followers on the club’s fanpage expressed their appreciation for its meaningful activity, and they hoped more people would participate in such small act of kindness. For example, a facebook account wrote: "This is a noble act but not everyone can do that. Wishing the club’s members good health to continue their efforts to support poor patients" .

Reporting by HUYNH TUONG VY – translating by H.L