VU THU, Vietnam, Jan 25, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Tran Huu Hoa was scared,
desperate and on the verge of suicide after his leprosy diagnosis in 1958,
fearing he’d never work or marry in an age when lepers were completely
shunned from Vietnamese society.
He could not imagine he would find new life at the leprosy hospice where he
has been living for 61 years, a walled off compound in northern Thai Binh
province where he met his wife, worked as a union boss and took in needy
children.
“There were about 2,000 people here then, mostly young people. It was fun
because we started a teen union,” the 80-year-old told AFP, sitting on his
bed with his wife Teo of 54 years.
Today there are only 190 patients at the hospital, all cured but living
with disabilities caused by leprosy.
Many walk with prosthetic legs. Others like Hoa have lost fingers. Some are
so severely disabled they spend the day bent over in bed, covered with thick
blankets to keep the cold at bay.
Founded in 1900, Van Mon is the oldest leprosy hospital in northern
Vietnam.
At its peak it treated 4,000 patients a year — a number that has dwindled
as leprosy cases have dropped across Vietnam thanks to improved healthcare,
hygiene and greater awareness of the disease.
World Leprosy Day is January 27.
There were 248 people being treated for leprosy in 2017 in Vietnam, down by
more than half from a decade earlier, according to data from the World Health
Organization.
But as numbers have decreased so have the live-in patients at the Van Mon
centre.
Meandering days are punctuated with a morning and midday meal. Some pass
the time worshipping at the on-site chapel or pagoda, while most watch TV or
listen to the radio during the day when they are not sleeping.
“I have no one to count on, I’m so lonely, so I just follow God. When I die
I will follow God then too,” said Pham Van Bac, 83, who has been at the
centre since 1960.
His daughter no longer visits and his grandchildren come only once a year,
so he has little to look forward to most days, he says.
But many like Bac chose to stay, fearing they will be a burden on their
families, or lose the care and small stipend provided at the government-run
hospital.
Some, like Hoa, have found companions in the centre.
“It’s a source of encouragement and motivation and they can have a happier
and better life,” said Nguyen Thi Thai, deputy director of the hospital where
both her parents were once treated for leprosy.
And even though stigma against leprosy sufferers has largely faded outside
the walls of the hospice, many prefer to remain at Van Mon.
Hoa said: “This is my second home, I will live here until my death.”