More than a week after his son, Y Thun Nie, 10, from Krai Village, Ea Kly Commune, Dak Lak Province, was rushed to hospital, Y Tha Mlo, 29, is close to exhaustion.
The impoverished father is tormented by regret over not buying a health insurance card for his son (Photo: Thuy Diem).
During the day, he stays at his son's bedside. At night, he calls relatives and acquaintances to borrow whatever money he can to pay for medicines.
"I have managed to borrow nearly VND 10 million (USD 377) to pay for my son's treatment," he said with a sigh, unable to take his eyes off the boy lying motionless in the hospital bed.
Y Tha Mlo's family is classified as disadvantaged. He and his wife have four children. Their eldest daughter, 12, has congenital brain atrophy, meaning his wife has to stay at home to care for her and cannot work.
The responsibility of providing for the family falls entirely on Y Tha Mlo. To feed six people, he takes whatever work he can find, from farm labour and manual work to construction jobs.
In July, Y Thun Nie developed a persistent high fever with no obvious cause. Thinking it was an ordinary fever, his parents bought medicine to lower his temperature, but his condition did not improve.
As the boy became increasingly weak, broke out in sweat and grew pale before losing consciousness, his parents panicked and hired a vehicle to take him to the Central Highlands General Hospital.
Doctors diagnosed him with encephalitis and meningitis and ordered intensive treatment.
The 10-year-old boy is in a deep coma and on a ventilator after a prolonged fever (Photo: Thuy Diem).
Nguyen Van Chien, a doctor at the hospital, said Y Thun Nie was admitted in a deep coma with a complete loss of reflexes and had to be placed on a ventilator.
"Because he does not have health insurance, his family has to pay more than VND 1 million (USD 38) a day for medicines. That is a very large expense for the family," Chien said.
Given the boy's circumstances, the hospital's paediatric intensive care and neonatal unit has asked the hospital to consider covering part of the family's treatment costs.
Y Tha Mlo said the family had been too poor to buy a health insurance card for their son. By the time the boy became seriously ill, the cost of treatment had already exceeded what the family could afford.
Y Tha Mlo worries about his son's condition (Photo: Thuy Diem).
Pham Thi Mai, principal of Le Quy Don Primary School in Ea Kly Commune, said Y Thun Nie was a pupil at the school but had not been enrolled in health insurance by his family.
After learning that he had been hospitalised, the school contacted local authorities to begin procedures to obtain a health insurance card for him.
"Y Thun Nie is not the only pupil from a disadvantaged family who does not have health insurance. The school regularly raises awareness among parents because health insurance helps protect children when they become ill or fall sick unexpectedly," Mai said.
"We hope more pupils will be covered by health insurance so that no family has to face such a desperate situation when their child becomes seriously ill."
Dantri Newspaper launched a programme to provide health insurance cards to disadvantaged pupils nationwide in the 2022-23 school year, with support from readers, businesses and donors.
Over four years, Dantri readers have helped provide 7,210 health insurance cards to disadvantaged pupils in provinces and cities across Vietnam.
In its fifth year, Dantri is continuing to mobilise social resources to provide health insurance cards to pupils from disadvantaged families. Beneficiaries are identified and recommended by schools, local authorities and relevant agencies based on their circumstances and the programme's criteria.
