The shining example of medical ethics from Nghe An province - Part 2
In Nghe An, many healthcare workers are shining examples of professional ethics. They love their profession, care for people, and silently dedicate themselves to the cause of caring for and protecting community health. The white coats they wear are the embodiment of knowledge, honor, and the noble character of a physician.
Lesson 2:
Silent dedication
Nghe An has many medical staff who are shining examples of professional ethics. They love their profession, love people, and silently dedicate themselves to the cause of caring for and protecting community health. The white coats they wear are the embodiment of knowledge, honor, and the noble character of a physician.
Pioneering in confronting Covid-19
Although the Covid-19 pandemic is long over, its haunting memories and consequences remain etched in the minds of many. Dr. Bui Tien Hoan, Deputy Head of the Department of Virology and Parasitology at the Center for Tropical Diseases, Nghe An Friendship General Hospital, is one of those who have suffered greatly from its devastating effects. Three years of battling the Covid-19 pandemic have aged him considerably...
When the first cases of COVID-19 appeared in Nghe An, Dr. Bui Tien Hoan was the first person assigned to the isolation ward of the Center for Tropical Diseases (Nghe An Friendship General Hospital) – later the Nghe An Intensive Care Unit No. 1 – to treat severe and critical COVID-19 patients. His nhiệm vụ was to manage and directly treat patients in the isolation ward.
Treating COVID-19 patients presents immeasurable hardships and challenges for healthcare workers here. Each day, they work two 12-hour shifts, a workload three to four times greater than their colleagues outside. During those 12 hours, they are constantly drenched in sweat in their protective suits; they don't eat, drink, sleep, or use the restroom; and they are always in a state of constant activity: examining patients, administering injections, providing ventilators, performing surgery… without a moment's rest. Before one patient is treated, another needs intervention.
Dr. Bui Tien Hoan stated: "Preventing and controlling epidemics is my specialty. Before the Covid-19 pandemic threatened the lives of many patients, if I didn't take the lead in entering the isolation ward to treat patients, who would? I'm a dynamic person, passionate about sports and travel. However, more than ever, I felt I needed to sacrifice my personal hobbies and passions to voluntarily dedicate myself to the lives of patients and the health of the community."
Working in isolation and treatment areas puts immense pressure on each healthcare worker. At the end of 2021 and the beginning of 2022, the Covid-19 pandemic broke out strongly in the community. Every day, Nghe An recorded over 2,000 cases; among them were patients already being treated for other illnesses, people with underlying health conditions, etc. Therefore, the number of people with severe and critical Covid-19 cases was very high. Nghe An's Intensive Care Unit No. 1 was constantly overloaded, treating over 230 patients daily. Meanwhile, the center has a capacity of 100 beds and over 100 healthcare workers. The center was already overloaded, but patients transferred from lower-level facilities (levels 1 and 2) continued to arrive.
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For two years (2021-2022), Dr. Bui Tien Hoan, like many other medical staff, hardly went home, eating, sleeping, and working continuously in the treatment area for severely ill Covid-19 patients. Originally a young, handsome doctor, Dr. Bui Tien Hoan quickly became "worn out" in appearance. His face was gaunt, covered in mask marks, his skin wrinkled and constantly reddened due to irritation. And even now, those traces of his time fighting the pandemic are still visible.
After the pandemic passed, without a moment's rest, Dr. Hoan and his colleagues plunged back into the battle against various other diseases. Dr. Hoan was once again passionate about conquering "difficult problems" to save patients with infectious diseases being treated at the Department of Virology and Parasitology, Center for Tropical Diseases – where he has worked for 16 years. Dr. Bui Tien Hoan shared: "I always want to help those in difficult circumstances; I want to directly examine patients, to apply my professional knowledge to save lives. Every time I find a solution and successfully save a patient's life, it's an immeasurable happiness. This is the pride of the medical profession, something not every profession can have."
Silently on the high mountains
In Nghe An, many medical staff have been working day and night, "having to throw themselves into dirty places to clean them, having to venture into places of suffering to alleviate suffering" (President Ho Chi Minh's teachings on doctors in 1946). Dr. Tran Van Cong, Deputy Director of the Tuong Duong District Health Center, is one of them. During the Covid-19 pandemic, Dr. Cong was the one "on duty" at hotspots to coordinate epidemic control, triage, isolation, sample collection, and treatment for the people. When a case first appeared, he was there; when the outbreak was brought under control, he and his colleagues moved to another hotspot.
Meeting Dr. Tran Van Cong at the Covid-19 outbreak sites in Cham Puong village (Luong Minh commune) in July 2021; the outbreak in Nhon Mai commune in December 2021; the outbreaks in Na Khom village (Yen Na commune) and Van Mon village (Nga My commune) from the 26th to the 29th of the 12th lunar month of 2021..., he was always seen sweating profusely, with dark circles under his eyes from lack of sleep and a tanned complexion. Fighting the epidemic in the mountainous region is arduous, yet he has never once complained about the difficulties. He and his colleagues quietly and diligently worked to combat the epidemic with the highest determination, hoping only to restore peace to the villages as soon as possible.
Sharing his experience in disease prevention and control, Dr. Tran Van Cong said, "I'm used to it." His life as a doctor has been a continuous battle against epidemics, day after day, month after month. In 1990, after graduating from a medical vocational school, he volunteered to work at the Ky Son District Health Center. At that time, in this remote and highest border district of Nghe An province, malaria, cholera, and dysentery were rampant. As a "new recruit," Tran Van Cong hadn't even settled in before he and his senior colleagues rushed to fight the epidemics.
During those years, Nghe An was a malaria hotspot nationwide. Outbreaks occurred continuously. All mountainous and hilly districts were affected. Villages in western Nghe An were devastated by malaria. In some villages, 90% of the population carried the malaria parasite; rice ripened in the fields, but there were no healthy people to harvest it. In Ky Son district alone, an average of 50-60 people died from the disease each year.
With no roads or means of transportation, he and his colleagues walked across mountains and through forests to reach villages affected by the epidemic. In the villages, health workers carried out awareness campaigns, mobilized people to prevent and control the disease, collected samples to detect malaria, sprayed insecticide, treated mosquito nets, and provided treatment. Once an epidemic was over in one village, they moved on to another to continue the fight. Each mission usually lasted 2-3 months... The jungle was harsh and the malaria was relentless. The malaria attacks were prolonged. General practitioner Tran Van Cong's skin turned a "permanently dark" color from then on.
In 1993, medical officer Tran Van Cong requested a transfer to the Tuong Duong District Health Center to be closer to his elderly mother. Although the office was near his home, he was still frequently away. At this time, epidemics in the mountainous districts of Nghe An province, including Tuong Duong district, had subsided somewhat; however, the risk remained, lurking for outbreaks. A major reason was the low level of public awareness and disease prevention. To prevent and control epidemics, the District Health Center regularly organized working groups to visit villages and communes to disseminate information and conduct monitoring. Each trip usually lasted several weeks. Medical officer Tran Van Cong was a key member of these working groups.
Throughout his career, he constantly learned from his colleagues to improve and perform his duties well. The more he studied, the more knowledge and experience he gained in handling various diseases. With his strong professional competence, he was recognized by the District Health Center and the Department of Health, and appointed as Head of Department, then Deputy Director of the center. Dr. Tran Van Cong has made many contributions to the implementation of national health programs and disease prevention and control in Tuong Duong district.
Dr. Tran Van Cong's life has been closely tied to epidemic control. He recounted: "In 2007, after graduating from medical school, I immediately plunged into the work of preventing and controlling HIV/AIDS. That year, the Ban Ve Hydropower Plant was under construction. The negative consequences of development led to the emergence of drug abuse and HIV/AIDS. In the following years, there were outbreaks of meningococcal meningitis in Minh Tien village (Luong Minh commune), measles in Pieng Cooc village (Mai Son commune), Covid-19, diphtheria... When epidemics occurred, I didn't feel tired or exhausted, but only felt that I needed to try harder and contribute more to prevent epidemics and better care for people's health. People's health is the driving force of the medical profession."
When the pandemic subsided, Dr. Cong, like many other healthcare workers in Nghe An, embarked on other silent "battles": preventing and combating child malnutrition; preventing and combating HIV/AIDS; ensuring food safety; implementing expanded immunization programs; implementing digital transformation in healthcare; improving the capacity for examination and treatment at grassroots healthcare facilities; and caring for reproductive health... In this "battle," Dr. Tran Van Cong constantly pondered and reflected on questions that lacked concrete answers: "How can we prevent and combat child malnutrition when parents are already working at factories with babies only a few months old? How can we ensure food safety when there are so many unregulated goods? How can we create jobs for drug addicts to effectively prevent and combat drug abuse and HIV/AIDS?"
