Cultivate virtue and talent to build medical ethics

Disease prevention activities in the mountainous areas of Nghe An face many difficulties. Photo: Tu Thanh

Celebrating the 65th anniversary of Vietnamese Doctors' Day, Nghe An Newspaper had an interview with Associate Professor, Dr. Duong Dinh Chinh - Director of Nghe An Department of Health.

PV:During the recent period of preventing and fighting the COVID-19 pandemic, the role of the Nghe An Health sector has been clearly demonstrated with many efforts and attempts. As the head of the sector, what can you say about this?

Associate Professor, Dr. Duong Dinh Chinh:Entrusted by the Party Committee, the government and the people of the province with the responsibility of caring for and protecting people's health, each medical staff in particular and the health sector in general are clearly aware of their responsibilities and always strive to complete their tasks well. Preventing and fighting the COVID-19 epidemic is one of such tasks...

Preventing and fighting the COVID-19 epidemic has truly been a comprehensive "war" in which not only the medical sector but all levels and sectors, from the province to the commune, have actively participated. Even at the commune level, information gathering, epidemic prevention and control propaganda, and monitoring of suspected cases have also been carried out very closely. Thanks to the synchronous cooperation, up to this point, the province's COVID-19 prevention and control work has had the highest level of initiative. However, it must be said that: In the context of a large province with convenient transportation, a major transit point for people and goods, and many people returning from working far away in China, Nghe An is fortunate not to have detected any cases of the epidemic.

Leaders of Nghe An Department of Health visited and encouraged patients at the quarantine area. Photo: Thanh Hoa

Within the health sector, in the face of the complicated developments of the COVID-19 epidemic, since the Lunar New Year until now, the staff, medical staff and doctors have not had a moment of rest and have been working very hard. All work from consulting on plans, scenarios, formulating and implementing plans to monitoring isolation and treating symptoms for suspected cases has been carried out very actively and resolutely. Prevention activities are closely linked to treatment. The provincial level closely follows the district and commune levels.

Like the medical staff, doctors and nurses in the field of medical examination and treatment, the medical staff and doctors working in the field of prevention in the province have made great efforts in caring for and protecting the health of the people. However, the achievements of the prevention team are often less noticed because those achievements often come late after a few or three years and are not immediately evident. For example, the effectiveness of vaccination or prevention and control of non-communicable diseases...

And not just COVID-19, practical requirements are requiring every medical staff to constantly strive every day, every hour. In the field of medical examination and treatment, doctors and nurses have to face increasingly complex disease models; people's needs are getting higher and higher from the quality of examination and treatment to the hospital environment. In the field of prevention, pressure comes from new and re-emerging diseases in the context of many cuts in investment resources while the role is promoted and enhanced. Particularly in the field of disease prevention and control, the industry continues to thoroughly implement Uncle Ho's thoughts "Developing hygiene and medical work...", "prevention is better than cure", considering this as the guiding principle for all activities.

PV:During his lifetime, Uncle Ho always wished for Nghe An to develop into a prosperous province. To help Nghe An develop, the Politburo issued Resolution 26 on the direction and tasks for developing Nghe An province until 2020. To contribute to the successful implementation of Resolution 26 and the construction of the homeland, what action programs has the Nghe An health sector had and what results have they achieved?

Associate Professor, Dr. Duong Dinh Chinh:To implement the contents of Resolution No. 26-NQ/TW, the Department of Health has developed an action program to implement Resolution No. 26 in the whole sector. Along with that, the Department of Health has advised the Provincial People's Committee to approve and issue 3 projects for implementation, including: Project on investment in key medical infrastructure for the period 2015 - 2020; Project on construction and development of high-tech medical technology to make Vinh city become a medical center of the North Central region for the period 2015 - 2020; Project on development of medical technology in the Western region of Nghe An province for the period 2015 - 2020.

In implementation, Nghe An Health has achieved many positive results. The preventive health network has been consolidated and developed, with the capacity to forecast, monitor, detect and control epidemics, contributing to improving the quality of primary health care for the people. The rate of communes completing the national health criteria in 2019 reached 90.6%.

The medical examination and treatment network has recently developed a number of general and specialized hospitals; on average, each year the hospitals examine more than 5 million people, with annual bed occupancy rates above 100%.

To implement the contents of Resolution No. 26-NQ/TW, the Department of Health has developed an action program to implement Resolution No. 26 throughout the industry.

In addition, the implementation of financial autonomy has initially shown effectiveness. Non-public health care has developed rapidly, ranking first in the country in terms of socialized investment. Thanks to investment and upgrading of modern equipment, hospitals have successfully applied many new and modern methods and techniques in examination and treatment such as: kidney transplantation, heart surgery, cranial neurosurgery; specialized surgeries in specialties; digital subtraction angioplasty and stenting of renal arteries; aortic stenting; mitral valve dilation; botulinum toxine injection to treat hemifacial spasm and movement disorders; gene quantification for malignant blood diseases; gene sequencing using molecular biology techniques;

It must be said that Nghe An's health sector has made great efforts to implement Resolution 26, making the province a developed province in health. Investment activities have also been carried out very synchronously from prevention, medical examination and treatment, food safety, population - family planning, pharmaceutical management, development of pharmaceutical raw material areas... However, Nghe An's health sector still has many shortcomings and inadequacies such as: The implementation of new technical development is not much; Investment in equipment in hospitals is still overlapping; The quality of medical examination and treatment and the development of high technical expertise in district hospitals in the West is still limited; District hospitals lack highly qualified doctors and specialists; Investment capital is still low compared to development needs. Socialization of health care still faces many difficulties.

Amidst the shortcomings and inadequacies, we still clearly see the bright spots. In recent years, the province has not had any major epidemics, no mass food poisoning... These things have confirmed that Nghe An's healthcare is on the right track. Nghe An's healthcare will continue to persevere in achieving the goal of protecting and providing comprehensive health care to the people in all aspects.

PV:The letter sent to the Conference of Health Workers written by Uncle Ho was published in Nhan Dan newspaper on February 27, 1955, short with only 368 words, expressing 3 main contents: Must be honest and united; Love the sick; Build the country's medical foundation. In the coming time, how will Nghe An's health sector fulfill Uncle Ho's 3 wishes?

Associate Professor, Dr. Duong Dinh Chinh:Following his teachings, over the past 65 years, the Nghe An Health sector has constantly tried and strived, and up to now can be proud that the sector has basically met some of those three expectations. We affirm that the 12,000 health workers in the sector are always united, focused, and make efforts to carry out the noble task of taking care of people's health... Solidarity between health workers and between units in the sector creates a high level of motivation and unity to ensure good work in protecting and taking care of people's health.

Visiting and giving gifts to encourage patients undergoing dialysis at the hospital. Photo by Thanh Hoa

Promoting the spirit of loving patients, Nghe An Health sector has promoted the movement to improve medical ethics, innovate the style and attitude of serving patients. Accordingly, units, each cadre, physician and doctor have actively responded to the movement, constantly improving medical ethics, medical ethics, technical expertise, actively practicing communication skills... thereby, contributing to strengthening trust and creating patient satisfaction.

In the past 5 years, the negative reputation of medical ethics of Nghe An medical staff has decreased significantly compared to before. The number of complaints and calls to the industry hotline reflecting the spirit and service attitude of medical staff is very small. In medical units, the situation of medical staff causing trouble and difficulties for people has almost disappeared.

In the coming time, Nghe An Health sector will promote the movement, considering this a key task, so that every medical staff member is worthy of Uncle Ho's teaching "A good doctor is like a compassionate mother".

To meet the health care needs of the people, the wish of Uncle Ho, Nghe An has built a modern medicine, developed widely and in depth. This is reflected in the consolidation of commune and district health care and the improvement of the quality of provincial health care, both general and specialized. Common diseases are detected and treated early; dangerous and incurable diseases have specialized expertise to treat...

However, there is one thing that Nghe An's health sector still needs to do better in the coming years, which is to closely coordinate modern medicine and traditional medicine. For a long time, we have focused on modern medicine, traditional medicine has also made many efforts but has not yet made good use of folk remedies. A key content in 2020 of Nghe An's health sector is to promote the development of traditional medicine in line with modern medicine.

PV:Thank you!