Doctor Pham Hong Phuong: Heart for patients

(Baonghean) -It is understandable that many patients of the Cardiology Department - Nghe An General Hospital who have never met the Head Doctor of the Department often mistake him for... a patient. Usually at those times, Doctor - Meritorious Physician Pham Hong Phuong just smiles. He said, his appearance is "so miserable", people are right to mistake him. But behind that thin appearance, slow and leisurely voice is a warm heart, full of enthusiasm for life, for the profession...

Doctor Pham Hong Phuong takes care of patients.

The "heart" of a doctor

In 1992, after graduating from university, Pham Hong Phuong returned to his hometown Nghe An to apply for a job at the Cardiology Department of Nghe An General Hospital and has been working with cardiovascular patients ever since. After more than 20 years of working and witnessing as many cases as he has, as many lives as he has had, Dr. Phuong has had as many joys and sorrows. The first days at the hospital were full of hardship and sadness. Dr. Phuong recalled and explained: That was because at that time, the hospital's facilities were poor, and the equipment was nothing but an electrocardiogram machine, so the chance of saving a patient's life was not much. The young doctor at that time was haunted by the feeling of helplessness before the patient. For any physician, that was the greatest pain...

Doctor Phuong said that people often talk about the medical ethics of a doctor, such as his attitude towards patients, how he takes care of patients, whether he “loves” them or not. But the first thing to talk about medical ethics is the effectiveness of treatment. A doctor with a “heart” must be someone who constantly improves his skills and professional expertise to cure diseases and reduce costs for patients. Among the thousands of patients who have passed through here, he remembers most a young patient with severe heart failure, whom he has been treating and monitoring for many years. One time, the patient became seriously ill and was hospitalized, while he was on a business trip. The doctors in the department recounted that the patient only called his name in a desperate plea: “Doctor Phuong, Doctor Phuong” before passing away forever…

The trust and confidence of each patient is what urges him to do to be worthy of that trust. He is the one who proposed to develop expertise and techniques and received high consensus from the hospital's board of directors. Human resources were sent to study, equipment was purchased, joy multiplied from many cases of serious illness being saved. That breakthrough and increasingly stable development is largely due to the quiet doctor Pham Hong Phuong. He happily "boasted" that recently, they saved the lives of patients Nguyen Xuan Viet and Chu Van Hau who had myocardial infarction and were in a state of circulatory arrest when they came here. From 2009 to now, after sending doctors to learn advanced techniques and purchasing many machines, the number of inpatients in the department has increased from 40-50 to 140-150 patients. Coronary intervention has been performed in nearly 1,000 cases, nearly 60 congenital heart disease cases, in collaboration with the Department of Surgery, open heart surgery has been performed on nearly 200 cases, and pacemaker implants have been performed. Currently, the department has 7 doctors specializing in vascular intervention. 6/13 doctors of the department are being given the opportunity to study advanced techniques in Hanoi. According to Dr. Phuong, we must strongly encourage the young generation to grasp advanced techniques through training courses, hands-on instruction...

Many concerns…

During the conversation, when I asked about his personal achievements, Dr. Phuong often fell into a state of... forgetfulness. But I know that he has always achieved the title of Emulation Fighter since 2005 until now, twice received the Provincial Certificate of Merit, and was awarded the title of Excellent Physician. He also studied for a master's degree from 1997 to 2000, and is currently a doctoral student. When he saw that I "know" his resume so well, he was a bit surprised and said that he himself did not remember it that well. However, when I asked about his concerns, he spoke openly, saying that the reality of cardiovascular and metabolic cardiovascular patients, along with cancer, is increasing day by day, becoming a burden for families and society. In particular, coronary artery disease and hypertension are increasing rapidly. Initial medical examination and treatment are not done well, so when patients are transferred to the final level, their condition is often severe, so the chance of cure is reduced, and the financial burden on patients increases. There are many seriously ill people, many of whom are poor, and the cost of treatment or intervention is expensive. Insurance payments or purchasing medicine for cardiovascular patients are also currently facing difficulties. Therefore, it is heartbreaking that many patients do not have or are forced to refuse treatment opportunities.

To develop expertise and further improve the survival chances of patients, according to Dr. Phuong, in addition to sending human resources to study, it is necessary to invest in equipment and apply advanced techniques. He and the department will pursue the strategy of developing a cardiovascular center within the hospital to soon build the hospital into a red address for healthcare in the North Central region. And, with a gentle smile, before saying goodbye, Dr. Pham Hong Phuong said: Just do your job well, and patients will know and come. What is sustainable is trust, and trust must be built by expertise and the heart of a doctor...

Article and photos:Thuy Vinh