VietNamNet Bridge - When the lanterns were lit for the mid-Autumn festival the faces of the young patients at the Viet Nam National Hospital of Paediatrics also lit up, their troubles forgotten for a few hours.

Young patients receive wrapped gifts - and the gift of life at the Mid-Autumn festival.

VietNamNet Bridge - When the lanterns were lit for the mid-Autumn festival the faces of the young patients at the Viet Nam National Hospital of Paediatrics also lit up, their troubles forgotten for a few hours.

In the yard outside the hospital, the children beam, and their mothers look on lovingly.

Dinh Le Tuan Dat from the northern province of Ninh Binh, is just 30 months old. Dat has familial Mediterranean fever, a hereditary inflammatory disorder. He has lived at the hospital for the last six months – his treatment part-sponsored by a Japan-Viet Nam co-operation programme.

He looks pale and thin and he vomits a lot, but not now. At the moment he’s smiling, a lantern swinging from his right hand, while he’s carried around the hospital yard.

And he’s not alone. There are more than 300 young patients with toys, lanterns and broad smiles on their faces, singing gaily.

The hospital, which treats around 42,000 patients a year – many with potentially fatal cancer or heart disease – was organised under the programme “Lovely embracing arms”.

Dat’s mother, Le Thi Thuy Son, said, “My son is on a transfusion machine but he insisted I take him to the hospital’s big hall to see the musical performances celebrating the mid-Autumn festival.”

Son, who has spent nearly VND30 million (US$1,800) on hospital fees for her baby, hopes that one day he will be able to live a happy normal life.

Meanwhile, another gift has been given to the patients to mark Lantern Day, but it doesn’t come gift-wrapped – it’s the gift of life.

That morning, 54 volunteers from municipal universities and colleges donated 13,500ml of blood to the National Hospital of Paediatrics.

Bui Thi Hoa, the mother of Nguyen Thi Bich, who suffers from thalassemia – a hereditary form of anaemia – said, “I am very moved, our children are really taken good care of. They are most lucky to be here.”

Dr Duong Ba Truc, head of the hospital’s Haematology Department, said, “The hospital’s blood bank only meets one-third of demand. If patients aren’t transfused frequently, they can’t grow up so their quality of life will be very low.”

It is tragic to think that babies and infants with anaemia, haemophilia and other devastating disorders are not receiving the blood they need because of a shortage of donors.

Dr Do Manh Hung, secretary of the hospital’s youth union, said a student blood donation programme would be set up to boost supplies.

And when their immediate needs are taken care of, it shouldn’t be forgotten that children need to be stimulated in order to learn and grow up happy – or at least without psychological problems. Furthermore, a contented child is more resistant to disease and their recovery time is less, staff pointed out.

But for the moment, with lanterns and toys in hand, the hospital’s young charges are carefree and contented, which is surely the birthright of every child.

(Source: VNS)