Miscellaneous services offered by hospitals in Ho Chi Minh City have benefited patients and their relatives but at the same time increased their financial burden.

These services, including essential and cosmetic ones, have been increasingly used by in-patients and their caring relatives, particularly those on lengthy hospital stays.

One of them is cellphone charging, which has a large clientele and earned infirmaries a considerable income. 

Nguyen Thuy Vy, who was tending to her mother following emergency treatment at Cho Ray Hospital, said but for the handy service, she would be at a loss as to how to cope with so many calls from her relatives back home in the Mekong Delta province of Tien Giang.

A service provider at Children’s Hospital 1 is also packed with anxious relatives, many of whom have their phones plugged in at the rented charging devices so as to receive and make phone calls.

The shop assistants receive either their clients’ removed battery or cellphones and give them a receipt.

Each charging session costs VND4,000-5,000 (US$0.2).

The fees seem insubstantial but amount to a considerable expense for patients and their relatives on a shoestring budget during long hospital stays.

At several other hospitals, customers wait to get their fully charged phones back.

Some only have their phones charged for 10 or 15 minutes before unplugging them and hurriedly responding to their sick family members’ calls.

They then return to the service providers for more power later in the day, which may cost them a total of nearly $2 each day.

Nguyen Kha, who was looking after his child at a medical facility, jokingly said that after some 20 days in hospital, phone charging fees almost cost him VND200,000 ($9), the price for which he had bought his used phone.       

Despite the relatively high fees, the service is something patients and relatives cannot do without.

Apart from phone charging services, several room-deliveries of necessities such as Thermos flasks, mattresses and food have also been in high demand.

With only a phone call, customers order from attendants at the hospitals’ canteens or stalls in front of the facilities.

Catering to better-off clients

Several hospitals have also provided well-off pregnant women or those who have just delivered their baby health and cosmetic care at the facilities or at their home.

Concerned that improper bathing would adversely affect newborns’ health, many have sought home-bathing and umbilical cord dressing from nurses for around VND150,000 ($7) each session until their infants’ cords fall off.

Nga, a resident in Go Vap District, revealed she used the services for her two children, now aged five and two, during the first week following their birth.

A number of women also choose to have their wounds from a Caesarean seen to by nurses at their own homes.

Several obstetrical hospitals have also come up with diverse cosmetic care packages targeted at wealthy, fitness-conscious women during their pre- and post-natal periods.

Mekong Hospital boasts a center dedicated to such services ranging from body massage with oil extracts, dermatological treatment to manicures.

Similarly, Tu Du Hospital, one of the city’s leading facilities in obstetrics and gynecology, have offered full one-week packages to help women regain a desirable body and abdominal skin toning following delivery; as well as with hair wash, relaxation and newborns’ massage, which fetch VND5-6 million ($221-265) each.

Several users have found such packages quite exorbitant compared to those offered in spas outside.

Some major hospitals have also offered home care to critically ill and elderly patients in a bid to spare them the pain and expenses of traveling to the facilities.

The Oncology Hospital has recently launched a program offering such care and psychological counseling to terminal cancer patients, which has greatly benefited the debilitated patients themselves and their families.

The Ho Chi Minh City University Medical Center has also debuted its medication home delivery to outpatients without medical insurance policy throughout the city for shipping fees of around VND30,000 ($1.3).