Attending the groundbreaking ceremony was Chairwoman of the HCMC People’s Council Nguyen Thi Le, Head of the municipal Party Committee's Commission for Mass Mobilization Nguyen Manh Cuong, Vice Chairman of the People’s Committee of the City Duong Anh Duc, and Secretary of the Party Committee of District 5 Huynh Ngoc Nu Phuong Hong.
The delegation offered flowers and incense to revolutionary and first General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam, Tran Phu at his memorial house in Cho Quan Hospital (now known as HCMC Hospital for Tropical Diseases).
Cho Quan Hospital was built in 1864 for the treatment of infectious and mental illnesses. There was also a detention area in the hospital to keep Vietnamese revolutionaries from the French colonial government.
General Secretary Tran Phu was born on May 1, 1904, in Tuy An district, Phu Yen province. He was elected as the first General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam in 1930. He was arrested in 1931 and died at the detention area in Cho Quan Hospital in the same year.
Cho Quan Hospital Prison was officially recognized as a National Historical Relic Site by the Ministry of Culture – Information (now known as the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism) on November 16, 1988.
The upgrade project with a total capital of more than VND33.8 billion is expected to be completed on April 25, 2024, to celebrate the 120th anniversary of General Secretary Tran Phu’s birthday.
The project aims to restore and preserve the national historical relic of the Cho Quan Hospital Prison to be worthy of a national relic and to meet the needs of visiting, researching, and learning about the revolutionary history of the people of HCMC and the country.
It will also create a space to keep and display historical, cultural, and fine arts values as well as educate patriotic tradition for generations.
