One-year-old boy with skin disease in need of help

A poor couple from the Xe Dang ethnic minority in Kon Tum Province is calling for financial support to cure their child's strange skin disease.

Severe skin lesions 

The one-year-old boy, A Phung, is being treated at the ICU Department of Quy Hoa National Leprosy and Dermatology Hospital in Binh Dinh Province. His mother, Y Ao, said, "He's had this disease since he was six months old. He can't sleep because of the pain. We've borrowed money and brought him to hospital in Kon Tum Province many times but just when it looked like he was cured, the disease returned."

Because Phung's condition worsened, the director of Kon Tum Center for Social Disease Prevention and Control decided to transferred him to Quy Hoa National Leprosy Dermatology Hospital, where he was diagnosed with psoriasis.

A Phung in hospital

Doctor Nguyen Thi Thoi Loan said, "When Phung was admitted to the hospital, he was covered in lesions. This is a rare disorder, only affecting 0.5-1% of the population. It can cause blood infections and in certain cases is fatal. A Phung has got better, but in the first days he had to sleep face down because the lesions on his back were so painful."

According to his doctors, A Phung will be able to go home in the next week, but he may have to be on medication for the rest of his life.

Even though health insurance covered most of the hospital fees, A Phung's parents still had to pay for accommodation in Binh Dinh Province. Che Thi Nhat Le, a nurse who helped treat him, said, "Most patients of an ethnic minority are poor, but Phung's situation is one of the hardest I've seen. When he was admitted, the boy didn't have any clothes so I gave him some of my son's old clothes."

A Phung's parents borrowed VND8 million, a huge amount to the couple. A Phung's mother said, "My husband said he plans on becoming a bricklayer instead of doing farm work in order to pay the debts."

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