The hospital, built in 1911 in what is now Hanoi's downtown Dong Da District, once specialized in treating infectious diseases. The general hospital has 4,300 employees and receives around 5,000-5,500 inpatients and 6,000-7,000 outpatients every day.
The infrastructure of the hospital's mental health institute is severely degraded. Its wooden doors have been damaged by termites, but the hospital has not been able to replace them due to a lack of money.
The relative of a patient at the institute said they "didn't dare to eat food there due to the stench coming from the sewage." The sewage system is damaged and uncovered.
"The institute has two transcranial magnetic stimulation machines used to treat mental health patients. They are capable of treating 38 people a day, but now one has broken down, so patients have to wait a week for their turn," said doctor Dang Thanh Tung, who works at the institute.
The Allergy and Clinical Immunology Center has to keep a few beds outside as the inside is too cramped. The center has 31 beds, but there are around 60 patients who need beds every day, sometimes even 80. As such, the center makes several people use the same bed. Due to a lack of equipment, patients have to wait in long lines for their turn to be treated.
"Those with strokes need to get their scan results immediately, but due to a lack of equipment, they are having to wait for 2-3 days, and in many cases, they have to get a scan elsewhere," said Trinh Tien Luc, deputy director of the center.
The service room of the center has two beds, and a single night there could cost VND1 million ($40.21). Whenever it rains, water seeps through the ceilings, causing mold to thrive.
"I've been lying here for five days and my treatment isn't over. But the room is too humid and the ceiling is too leaky, I couldn't sleep at night. I have requested that I am allowed to go home early," said a patient.
Whenever there is an outbreak of dengue fever or other disease, the hospital's tropical disease center is constantly overcrowded. Each 15 m2 room has six beds, with two people on each. Patients with hepatitis and dengue fever have to stay next to each other, not meeting quarantine requirements.
Doctor Do Duy Cuong, who works at the center, said the building's degradation and the lack of resources have hurt patients.
The Bach Mai Hospital has a second campus in neighboring Ha Nam Province in order to relieve patient overload, but over the past six years, there have been difficulties in the construction process and the facility stands abandoned.
