Free healthcare for over 500 people in Hưng Hóa diocese
The service was provided by the St Luke's Family of Physicians, a charity founded in 2006 and operated by volunteer physicians and nurses. Several malnourished children from poor families were also treated.
Hanoi (AsiaNews) – Last week hundreds of people in the parish of Sơn La, Diocese of Hưng Hóa, received medical care from the St Luke's Family of Physicians, a non-profit organisation that includes volunteer doctors, nurses and pharmacists.
“Doctors examined us with care and attention and gave us free medicines. They explained how to use them and then advised us what to eat to remain healthy,” some patients said.
On 29 May, the volunteer medical staff saw some 500 patients, mostly ethnic Kinh, Thai, Hmong, and Khomu, some of them Catholic, from all the districts around the parish of Sơn La: Thuận Châu, Quỳnh Nhai, Mai Sơn and even Mộc Châu.
Residents in this mountainous region suffer from several diseases; stomach pain, joint pain, and goiter are the most common, but many children from poor families are also malnourished.
St Luke's Family of Physicians was founded in 2006 by a group of volunteer doctors and immediately received the support of the Bishop’s Office of the Archdiocese of Hanoi.
In the past 16 years the society has treated more than 30,000 people from different provinces of Vietnam.
Thanks to donations, the charity is also able to provide blankets, mosquito nets and other necessities to the poor.
“Although the doctors are not necessarily Christian, they are generous and sacrifice themselves for the poorest patients,” said some residents in Đồng Chiêm parish, speaking to AsiaNews.
"This has ignited the heart of every believer,” and provided an “opportunity for everyone to be aware of the Spirit of charity, working together and proclaiming the good news of God's love.”
.png)
