Que Phong: Increase doctors to commune health stations

(Baonghean) - Increasing the number of doctors at commune health stations, moving towards completely "covering" the "recess" of high-quality medical human resources is the goal of the health sector of Que Phong district. In recent times, with drastic, synchronous solutions and long-term investment, this goal has achieved positive progress, improving the quality of medical examination and treatment and strengthening people's trust.

With bags of medicine, boxes of vaccines... tied tightly to a muddy motorbike, doctor Lu Van Son (Nam Giai Commune Health Station) tried his best to push the gas pedal up the last hill. The road to Puc village, Meo village, Pieng Lang village is both remote and steep, both dusty and muddy, making anyone approaching it for the first time feel apprehensive. "I just started working at Nam Giai Commune Health Station not long ago. The first days I came to the village, I was very scared of this road, but now I'm used to it, I know every pothole, every rutted, slippery section" - Doctor Lu Van Son shared. Seeing the doctor coming to the village, more and more people came, everyone wanted to wait for the doctor to finish vaccinating them so he could examine them directly. “Previously, the commune health station did not have a doctor. When people had many questions about serious illnesses or special medicines, they had to go to the district and spend a whole day. Now that Dr. Son is here, people feel very secure. The doctor explains things very easily,” said Ms. Quang Thi Thanh (Pieng Lang village) happily.

Doctor Lu Van Son examines patients at Nam Giai Commune Health Station.

Doctor Lu Van Son was assigned to Nam Giai Commune Health Station according to the long-term plan of the Que Phong District Health Department. Before Doctor Son came to the station, since 2013, to solve the shortage of doctors, Que Phong District Health Center had flexibly "solved the situation" by rotating doctors from the center to Nam Giai to directly examine and treat patients 2-3 days/week. However, according to Ms. Vi Thi Viet, Head of Nam Giai Commune Health Station, this is only a temporary solution, the effect is not as positive and clear as having a doctor "stationed" in the commune permanently. “Previously, the doctors from the Health Center could only come to the commune for 2-3 days a week, and there were weeks when the weather was bad and they couldn’t come. The time was so short that it limited the examination, treatment monitoring and propaganda work for the people. Now things are better, with Dr. Son back, people feel more secure, and the rate of visits to the health station for examination and treatment has increased. In particular, with Dr. Son, the Nam Giai Commune Health Station has “solved” the difficult problem of having a doctor in the national criteria for commune-level health, moving towards the goal of meeting the criteria by the end of 2015,” said Ms. Vi Thi Viet.

Along with Dr. Son, there were 2 other doctors who came to the Nam Nhoong and Hanh Dich Commune Health Stations. At the Hanh Dich Commune Health Station, we met Dr. Lo Van Viet. He said: In 2011, when he was sent by the District Health Center to attend a specialized doctor course, the leaders of the district health sector did ideological work on him, determined to study seriously, achieve excellent results to return to work as a "stationed" doctor in the commune. During the 4 years of studying at Hai Phong University of Medicine and Pharmacy, every time he had a mid-term break, he combined visiting his family and taking advantage of the time to go to the commune health stations to review the actual medical examination and treatment and learn about some common diseases in the people, supplementing his learning process. When working at the Hanh Dich Commune Health Station, Dr. Viet encountered many difficulties. Partly because this was the first time the young doctor had worked in the commune, and partly because the infrastructure and equipment at the Hanh Dich Commune Health Station were lacking. However, according to Dr. Viet, the biggest advantage he had was language. “I am also a son of the Thai Que Phong people, so I understand their customs, habits, language, and personality very well, which is convenient for the work process. My plan is to actively stay in the village as much as possible to get acquainted with the area, grasp the disease situation, and build trust among the people. I am determined to overcome difficulties with my colleagues here and build the Hanh Dich Commune Health Station to meet national standards for commune health,” said young doctor Lo Van Viet.

The team of doctors who have been sent to strengthen commune health stations is creating many positive signs of change. That is the effectiveness of the human resource investment strategy with many synchronous and drastic solutions that the Que Phong district health sector has implemented over the past years. Doctor Le Quang Trung, Deputy Director of the Que Phong district health center, said: Many years ago, most of the staff at commune health stations in the district were doctors, nurses, etc., causing many limitations to the quality of medical examination and treatment. The district health sector is well aware of these difficulties, but the policy of attracting doctors from the lowlands is almost impossible because the treatment regime cannot be like many other places, and also because of the differences in geography, language, customs and practices. We have asked the Department of Health for permission to use local doctors, who are children of Que Phong people, to train them into specialized doctors. Currently, this source of specialized doctors basically fills all commune health stations in the whole district, only Kim Son Town Health Station and Que Son Commune Health Station are still "empty" of doctors. The reason is because these are 2 areas near the district health center and hospitals, we prioritize increasing doctors for remote communes first. But also only in the end of 2015, the number of specialized doctors who are studying and graduating, Que Phong completed and even exceeded the target of striving for 100% of commune and town health stations to have doctors, ensuring the conditions of the national criteria for commune health".

Phuong Chi