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First established by 1st Battalion,
3rd Marine Regiment as a clinic for MEDCAP patients in December
1965, the hospital grew to become a 70-bed wood and tin
building in 1967. By that time the Children's Hospital,
staffed by Vietnamese nurses and aides under the supervision
of FLC hospital corpsmen and doctors was filling a definite
need by providing sound medical treatment to thousands of
children from Chu Lai to the DMZ. Since February 1967, an
average of 1,200 children have been treated each month,
and about 120 in-patients are hospitalized at all times.
The ever-increasing need for medical
care and a growing acceptance of the hospital by the Vietnamese
people has inspired the present structure. With the help
and supervision of FLC Marines, Navy Seabees and the donations
of many contributors, civilian and military, local Vietnamese
have constructed a new 120-bed facility. This building is
constructed of brick, handmade by refugees of Hoa Khanh
Village, completly lined with ceramic tile, and is valued
at $300,000.
To insure that free medical care
is available to the children in northern I Corps when American
forces leave the Republic of Vietnam, the World Relief Commission
(WRC), overseas relief arm of the National Association of
Evanglicals, is assuming co-sponsorship with the Marine
Force Logistic Command. The WRC, working in half a dozen
areas of the world to relieve suffering, will eventually
replace all military personnel at the hospital with South
Vietnamese and Free World doctors, nurses, aides and technicians.
Current Status
Report
September 15, 2004: This
update comes from Clint
Haines of the Amerasian
Child Find Network, Inc.
I traveled to Vietnam in August 2004
and the hospital is still in use but is now being used to
house people with mental disorders. It also maintains it's
orginial name. It appears that the buildings that were around
the hospital were destroyed.
Previous Status Report
April 7, 2003: Becky
Graninger at World Relief
was able to get the latest information on the hospital from
a friend in Cambodia, Truc Pham. Truc Pham recently visited
the Da Nang area and sent back this report.
Editors note: Our newest report
seems to contradict this report. The one item in this report
that I was in dought of was the mention of a church next
to the hospital. I have no remembrence of any church next
to the hospital. Maybe they build one later but not in '69.
Regarding the World Relief Hoa Khanh
Children's Hospital in Da Nang. Last month in my trip to
Vietnam the Lord led me to meet with just the man I needed
to find out about the status of that hospital - the Rev.
Le Cao Quy, who was the hospital administrative director
at the time it was in operation some 30 years ago.
From Rev. Quy I learned that the
hospital was confiscated by the government shortly after
the take over of the south in 1975. It was then run for
only a few months. Afterward it was turned into a warehouse
of some kind (government distribution center?). The last
few years it has became a government guest house.
It was very sad to hear that in January
of '03 the facility was demolished. According to Rev. Quy,
the land which is about 2,000 square meters, is valued around
$4 million US dollars! He does not know what the government
plans for this property.
Rev. Quy is the pastor of the Tan
An church which is adjacent to the former Hoa Khanh Hospital.
As a former hospital director it was very difficult for
him to watch the deterioration of the hospital and now totally
demolished.
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