The village is home to less than 200 families but more than 30 people have reportedly died of cancer or developed the disease in the past five years, earning it the name “cancer village.”

Director Nguyen Van Kien of the Preventive Health Center of Gia Rai District, where the village is located, says his colleague Tran Van Sy died of pharynx cancer, agriculture officer Ly Van Phi died of a type of gland cancer, residents Le Van Son and Ut Thong died of liver cancer, and junior high teacher Nguyen Ngoc Oanh died of breast cancer.

“My wife Huynh Thi Phung also died of breast cancer,” Kien added.

Local resident Le Thi Minh Phuong died of leukemia five years ago and her husband was recently diagnosed with throat cancer. They have two children.

Several other villagers are living with different kinds of cancer.

Another local, 35-year-old Tran Thi Thuy Trang last year was diagnosed by doctors at Cho Ray Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City with rectal cancer. She couldn’t afford surgery, so she came home and has been struggling with her condition which is getting worse.

No reason for the cancer cases has been confirmed, Kien said.

However, the village was a military base during the Vietnam War and different kinds of gunpowder and wartime chemicals were left over after 1975, so these “might have been absorbed into the underground water which has been used by the villagers every day.”

Nguyen Minh Tung, deputy director of Bac Lieu Province Health Department, said the outbreak of cancer in Doi Village was unusual and deserved serious attention since it has affected the health and lives of many people.

“Each death is a big loss to the family,” Tung said. “And each cancer death spreads more anxiety in the village.”

The Bac Lieu Health Department says it is working with the provincial association of Agent Orange victims to take water and land samples in the area for testing.

The national picture

Vietnam reports 150,000-200,000 new cancer cases every year and half of these prove fatal, mostly lung, stomach, rectal and breast cancers, a conference in Dong Nai Province heard yesterday.

“That figure is only the tip of the matter,” said Le Tuan Anh, dean of the tumor faculty at Cho Ray Hospital, adding that many patients who did not seek treatment in hospitals are not included in the list.

There are only three hospitals nationwide that have special cancer wards and treatment options – K and Bach Mai Hospitals in Hanoi and the Tumor Hospital in HCMC; and these are always crowded.

Studies have estimated Vietnam needs 5,200 beds to treat cancer patients but it has less than half that number.

Experts at the conference also said cancer was a threat for HCMC’s neighboring province Dong Nai, as a large amount of dioxin from wartime is left in the land and lakes in the area.

Many members at the meeting said the Health Ministry should cooperate with city and provincial authorities to find the reason and map out specific treatment and prevention plans to reduce the impact of the disease on the community.

Phan Sy An, chairman of the Vietnam Association of Physicians, said the work “needs society as a whole to act,” adding the Health Ministry should introduce relevant policies and speed up the work.

Source: TN, VNA