Doctor Nguyen Minh Hong: A life of compassion and dedication

(Baonghean) - He was a successful, famous person. Of course! But it seems that people rarely imagine him as a Labor Hero, an excellent businessman, but often think of him with the simple image of a responsible National Assembly delegate, a compassionate doctor, passionate about life, always concerned with his hometown Nghe An... Doctor Nguyen Minh Hong has lived his entire life like that to be at peace on the day he passes away forever.

Thanh Lam 1 Primary School (Thanh Chuong) was invested and built by Dr. Nguyen Minh Hong. Photo: hc

…Recalling the time 25 years ago, when the medical examination and treatment for the people was completely undertaken by the State medical facilities, it created an overload situation in hospitals from district, provincial and central levels; people encountered many difficulties when examining and treating their illnesses. Doctor Nguyen Minh Hong pondered how to "tear down" this subsidy barrier in the medical field. Therefore, after retiring, Doctor Hong reported to the organization and vowed to realize that humane dream. In November 1989, Doctor Nguyen Minh Hong founded the "Center for Medical Examination and Treatment on Demand" at No. 28B, Dien Bien Phu, Ba Dinh District (Hanoi) to examine and treat illnesses to serve the people, although at that time there was no template or model. From his model, many private medical facilities in Hanoi and provinces across the country were established one after another. For this model to develop sustainably, Dr. Nguyen Minh Hong gathered many professors, good doctors, and famous scientists to establish the "Center for Research and Application of Vietnamese Medical Advances" to apply advanced scientific and technical advances in the world to medical examination and treatment for the people. The consistent action criteria of the treatment and health care work of the "Center for Research and Application of Vietnamese Medical Advances" founded by him are: "Good doctors, modern equipment, dedicated service, fast results, accurate diagnosis, effective treatment". Perhaps until today, that action motto is still relevant for the health sector.

Looking back at the life of Dr. Nguyen Minh Hong, in addition to completing all assigned tasks excellently while working, he also made many contributions and dedication to society. From the concern of how to let the voice of the people be reflected to the leaders, in 2007, as Director of the Center for Research on Vietnam Medical Advances, he applied to run for the 12th National Assembly, then he continued to run for the 13th National Assembly. He is also a member of the National Assembly's Committee on Social Affairs, a member of the Central Committee of the Vietnam Fatherland Front, Vice President of the Central Vietnam - Cambodia Friendship Association, Director of Nguyen Minh Hong General Hospital in Vinh City - Nghe An. For Thanh Chuong district and other localities of Nghe An province, he always cherished the thought of doing something to repay his homeland. But that's all, his life is as simple as that of many other young men from poor rural areas who are determined to leave, do business and succeed. But for Nguyen Minh Hong, it was different; loving his hometown and helping the poor was a never-ending job for him. Every time he returned to his hometown Thanh Chuong, he traveled to many communes in the district to learn about the activities of commune health stations; surveyed to establish projects to build schools, bridges, roads and promote education; only by making feasible projects could he mobilize the budget. At that time, he and many Thanh Chuong children from all over the country and abroad, who were successful in business, turned to their hometown to invest in building their hometown. The projects of "electricity, roads, schools, stations, and education promotion funds..." in Thanh Chuong were built by successful children of the hometown, including Dr. Nguyen Minh Hong, who invested tens of billions of dong.

Doctor Nguyen Minh Hong is also very interested in the press and communication activities of his home province; in 2003, he sponsored and helped Nghe An Radio and Television Station to build the column "Your Doctor" broadcast on Nghe An Radio and Television Station and he himself went on air to answer questions about health care of the people. The program lasted 10 minutes, broadcast every Saturday, on both radio and television, from 2003 to December 2012 with a total of 464 programs. At that time, although he was far from home and busy with work, but with his passion for his profession, he took the time to carefully study hundreds of questions sent by the audience to answer and answer questions about health in weekly programs. He confided: “I do the health advice column on the radio to help patients have good treatment methods, but the most valuable thing is to help poor people listen to the program to have ways to prevent and treat, avoiding expensive treatment in many places”. Many times, due to the request of the station, the program had to be carried out at Nghe An Radio and Television Station, he himself took the train all night to Vinh to produce the program, the next night he took the train back to Hanoi... just like that, the column "Your Doctor" has stood firmly on Nghe An Radio and Television for 10 consecutive years. He also left behind 5 health books, published by the Medical Publishing House, and a number of literature books. Of these, he spent his own money to buy back 100,000 medical books to give to people in remote areas as a health care handbook.

Successful in his profession and business, Dr. Nguyen Minh Hong always cares about charity and humanitarian activities. The total amount of money that Dr. Nguyen Minh Hong has donated to charity in Nghe An and other localities in the country has reached over 100 billion VND. The projects that he invested in building in his hometown Thanh Chuong include: Trieu Long bridge, Trieu Long dam, Cultural Post Office, Thanh Lam Primary School, Cua Tro bridge (Cat Van), Youth Science and Technology Club House at Thanh Chuong District Center, hundreds of houses of gratitude, charity houses in districts of Nghe An province, and scholarship funds for poor students, excellent students, savings books of gratitude... It was touching that at the end of 2012, although he knew he was in a serious illness, he spent over 1.7 billion VND to buy hundreds of essential medical equipment sets to give to commune health stations in Nghe An province. When he was being treated at Bach Mai Heart Hospital, I visited him. After the stories on the hospital bed, he said with a very happy face: "I just returned to my hometown to give medical equipment to the commune health stations. Luckily, they did not know that I was suffering from a serious illness. Otherwise, no one would have dared to accept that gift!" That's how he was, hiding his illness to fulfill his promise. Making money, saving on spending, saving to have money for charity is a virtue that has permeated his blood and flesh...

The great contributions of Doctor Nguyen Minh Hong have been honored with noble awards: Second Class Resistance Medal; Second Class Labor Medal; Merit of Merit of the Prime Minister; many Merit of the ministries, departments, branches, social organizations at the central level, Commemorative Medal for the cause of national unity, for the cause of health, science and technology, culture, education, encouragement of learning, many Merit of the People's Committee of Nghe An province... Especially on June 18, 2013, at the Hanoi Opera House, the People's Committee of Nghe An province solemnly held a ceremony to award the title of Hero of Labor in the renovation period to Doctor Nguyen Minh Hong. That noble award of the Party and State is given to Doctor Nguyen Minh Hong personally, but at the same time it is also the pride of the agency, family, clan, colleagues, friends and hometown of Nghe An province. Those noble titles, profound memories in life, and joy have given him more strength and courage to overcome his serious illness day and night, to continue to fulfill his dreams and good deeds in the remaining days of his life.

Doctor Nguyen Minh Hong passed away on September 25, 2014 (September 3, Giap Ngo year). I was fortunate to be close to him, and writing about him at this moment is like sending incense to my brother, the doctor who lived a compassionate life, full of passion for his homeland and had a peaceful "departure". His homeland will surely remember him forever. May his soul rest in peace!

Tran Duy Ngoan