» 11/23/2011 17:37 VIETNAM Christians injured in violent attack denied medical care in Hanoi A number of hospitals in the Vietnamese capital refuse to admit three Baptists injured in a targeted attack. Eventually, they were hospitalised in an undisclosed facility in Ho Chi Minh City. The attack was triggered by the evangelisation work of a former Communist Party official who had been recently baptised.
Hanoi (AsiaNews) – Various Hanoi hospitals refused to admit three Baptists after they were seriously injured during an attack against their church on 13 November. Instead, the three badly hurt victims were forced to travel as far as Ho Chi Minh City to seek medical care. Local Christians have kept the name of the facility undisclosed. Anonymous sources said that when religion is involved in violence, medical staff tends to refuse medical care and not admit patients to their facilities.
According to Compass Direct News, the attack occurred in mid-November during a service held at an Agape Baptist house church in Lai Tao village, Bot Xuyen municipality, My Duc District, which is within the metropolitan area of Hanoi.
Evangelist Nguyen Thi Lan was badly hurt during the attack, with a broken pelvis and internal injuries.
Although doctors said that an operation was needed, given the severity of the injuries, Rev Nguyen Cong Thanh, who heads the Agape Baptist Church, complained that three hospitals in the capital refused to admit the injured woman and the two other victims.
Nguyen Thi Lan is a former Communist Party official who converted last year to Christianity. Since then, she has led some 50 people to the Christian faith and baptism.
However, her newly found devotion to proclaiming the Word of God and her faith in Jesus have angered a local resident, known as Khoan.
With the aid of his son and a gang of hooligans, Khoan went to her home where people were holding a prayer. They wrecked the house and attacked those present, including Nguyen Thi Lan, Rev Nguyen Danh Chau, and a third person, leaving them badly injured.
Doctors in Ho Chi Minh City, the southern Vietnamese where the injured Christians were taken, diagnosed internal injuries to the kidneys, liver and perhaps other organs for Rev Nguyen Danh Chau. The third injured Christian, named Nguyen Thi Tac, was released.
“I pray that you will patiently endure your suffering for Jesus’ sake, without bitterness,” Rev Nguyen Cong Thanh told the victims. “Know that the blood you spilled has now joined that of Christ in suffering.”
This episode in anti-Christian violence in Vietnam’s capital of Hanoi is but the latest. Communist authorities have squared off with Catholics in Thai Ha parish (see Mai Khoi, “Thai Ha priest insulted and threatened during Mass,“ in AsiaNews 21 November 2011). But this time, government officials have targeted members of a local Protestant community as they continue to violate religious freedom.
