Nguyen Van Den and his mother at Trung Vuong Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City on Thursday.

Nguyen Van Den from Hue city was rushed to Trung Vuong Hospital last Wednesday when his abdomen and other parts of his body began to swell and he had difficulty breathing, a doctor at the hospital told Tuoi Tre Thursday.

Den visited a medical center in Ho Chi Minh City’s Tan Phu District last Tuesday but his employer sent him back to the factory that same night instead of allowing him to stay at the center for treatment. His condition worsened on Wednesday and he was taken to Trung Vuong, where he was put on a respirator and diagnosed with pneumonia.

According to the doctors, he had suffered a shortage of vitamin B1 due to excessive work.

His mother, Dao Thi No, who came to take care of him at the hospital, called Tuoi Tre on Thursday evening via phone at the Saigon Railway Station, saying that she was taking Den home as they had no money and the employer had refused to pay Den his wages for nine months’ work.

Abuse

The legal working age is 18 in Vietnam, but Den said he had been working 14-16 hours a day for Nguyen Thi Chau A at a sewing factory on Luy Ban Bich Street, Tan Phu District, where he had half an hour for each meal and was banned from contacting his family.

“The factory recently received large orders for Tet (The Lunar New Year), so I had to stay up until one or two in the morning,” Den said. “I always had a headache and felt dizzy.”

Den said he had felt sick and visited a medical center in August.

“When I returned to the factory and lay down, A kicked me in the head and said I was pretending.”

No said she was sorry her son had gone to Ho Chi Minh City in the first place. “I sent my child so far away to work and I didn’t know that he was mistreated, I just knew that he worked long hours.”

No said he had asked A several times to let her son visit but A told her to come to Ho Chi Minh City instead.

“I don’t know anything about the city and I don’t have money to do that.”

The mother and her son said they had relied on some loose change given to them by other patients at the hospital to buy cooking.

Denial

A said she had not signed labor contract with Den and had only promised his mother that she would pay Den VND5 million (US$279) a year and a bonus of VND1 million if he works well.

She denied beating Den, saying she had only pulled his ears.

A is employing six workers 16-23 years of age, some having been working there since age 14.

Her husband Duong Van Chuong said all garment factories in the area were employing underage workers and forcing them to work overtime. “That’s normal because we sell very cheap.”

Officials from the city Department of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs have checked the factory and proposed that the city government punish A.

VietNamNet/Tuoi Tre/Thanh Nien