As promised, we met Major, military doctor Le Anh Duc when he was preparing to go down to the village with a medical bag and a bag of candy. We asked, “Where are you going, doctor?” – “The school just informed that Tho Y D., a primary school student who was saved by eating poison leaves, has now dropped out of school. Let me go to his house to see what’s going on?”. Hearing his answer, we offered to go down to the village with him.
On the way, Major Le Anh Duc pointed to a plant with beautiful clusters of small yellow flowers growing on the edge of the forest and said it was aconite. This plant grows naturally everywhere from hillsides, forest edges, and even right on the roadside. Therefore, whenever there is something urgent or sad, the villagers, especially the Mong people, often eat conconite to commit suicide.
Little girl Tho YD (11 years old) in Pa Khom village was one of the lucky patients saved by Doctor Duc after eating poison ivy due to family problems on November 7. Luckily, right after that, her roommate discovered her and called the teacher to take her to the commune health station in a rather critical condition. Immediately, Major Le Anh Duc, who was working at Tri Le commune health station, and his colleagues performed rescue measures according to the folk remedy he himself researched. Thanks to that, Tho Y. D was saved in time.
Tho Y D.'s house is located right on the roadside. When she saw the visitors, the Hmong girl shyly greeted them and then sat down. After checking her health and giving her gifts, Major Le Anh Duc kindly talked to her and advised her; told Tho Y. D's parents to monitor her psychological development and encouraged her to continue going to school. Tho Ba Lau, Tho Y. D's father, said: "My family has 4 children, Y. D is the oldest. That day, seeing her parents arguing, Y. D was sad and ate poison leaves. Luckily, Dr. Duc gave her timely emergency care and saved her life!"
It is known that Tho YD is not the only case that was saved by Military Medical Major Le Anh Duc when he ate poison ivy with a remedy he prepared himself.
Tri Le is a border commune with a natural area of 20,290.18 hectares, with 18.53 km of border adjacent to Phan Thoong cluster, Muong Quan district, Hua Phan province (Laos). The commune has 16 villages, with 2,086 households/10,366 people, with 4 ethnic groups living there: Thai, Kho Mu, Mong and Kinh, of which, Mong people have 646 households/3,931 people. In the area, some bad customs still exist such as early marriage, incestuous marriage and especially the problem of eating poison ivy. Working in the area since 2013, Major Le Anh Duc has witnessed many people die from eating poison ivy. Most of them are young people aged 18-35, even children as young as 11-12 years old also seek out poison ivy for very normal reasons such as quarrels between husband and wife, conflicts between siblings, family opposition to romantic relationships...
Worried and tormented by the sudden deaths when some patients, although brought to the infirmary by their families, could not be saved in time because the plant is a highly toxic plant (group A poison), with the scientific name Gelsemium elegans Benth, belonging to the family Loganiaceae. When poisoned by the plant, if treatment is delayed, most patients die.
During the process of monitoring the symptoms of people who ate poison ivy, researching the toxicity of this plant, and seeing Mong mothers carrying banana trees and pennywort from the forest, Major Le Anh Duc suddenly had a thought: Why not use banana tree juice combined with pennywort to detoxify poison ivy? After a period of research, in 2016 he invented an emergency medicine to treat patients poisoned by poison ivy from things available in nature and easy to do. He found banana tree trunks as big as his biceps, washed them, cut them, then squeezed the juice and mixed it with crushed pennywort juice. Then, he found a few live frogs, washed them, put them in the above mixture for 3-5 minutes, then removed the frogs (putting live frogs in the water is only to create a fishy smell to make the patient vomit).
According to Major Le Anh Duc, when a patient is poisoned by poison ivy, give the patient the above mixture, about 400 - 500ml each time, then use your hand to put it in the patient's mouth to stimulate vomiting to eliminate all the food in the stomach. After that, continue to give the patient about 300ml of banana stem water combined with crushed pennywort leaves and mix well (this time do not induce vomiting). If the patient is severely poisoned and cannot drink by himself, insert a gastric tube and use 3 - 5 liters of the mixture to clean the stomach. Along with that, combine with antihistamines, cardiac stimulants, stimulants, IV fluids... After about 2 - 3 hours of active first aid and resuscitation, the patient will overcome the critical stage and gradually recover.
Thanks to this remedy, many lives have changed, many lives have been revived with new hope. Like the case of Mr. Lo Van X. (born in 1985), in Yen Son village, who was the first patient saved by Mr. Duc after eating poison ivy. Recalling the past, Mrs. Ha Thi Tuyet (Mr. X.'s mother) said that at that time, her son and his wife had moved out to live separately, and conflicts arose during their life together. In addition to drinking alcohol, Mr. X. turned to poison ivy to commit suicide. Luckily, he was discovered, taken to the Border Military Medical Station and was given emergency treatment by Dr. Duc, treated with his remedy. Mr. X. has now become a skilled mason and has a stable life. "If it weren't for Dr. Duc, my son would have lost his life that day, so we consider Dr. Duc a benefactor, a son in the family," said Mrs. Tuyet.
According to Major Le Anh Duc, when he saved the first patient, he was still unsure about his treatment for poison ivy. After saving a few more lives, he informed his unit to report to the Provincial Border Guard Command. From 2016 to now, Major, military doctor Le Anh Duc has saved the lives of 24 patients infected with poison ivy and the nickname "Miracle Doctor" was born from that time.
Talking about the role of Dr. Duc and the border guards stationed in the area in the fight to repel the eating of poison ivy among the people, Mr. Xong Ba Cha - Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of Tri Le commune said: In the area, almost every year there are a few cases of people eating poison ivy. At the peak in 2020, the whole commune had 17 people eating poison ivy, of which 10 died. In 2021, there were 10 people eating poison ivy, 6 died. Faced with that situation, the local Party Committee and government have coordinated with Tri Le Border Guard Station and a team of cadres and prestigious people in villages and hamlets to persistently promote propaganda work, raise awareness among people, combined with eradicating and eliminating poison ivy. Thanks to that, the eating of poison ivy among the people has been limited. In particular, the medicine prepared by Dr. Le Anh Duc has saved the lives of many people in the area. In 2 years alone (2022 - 2023), 2 middle and primary school students in the area who ate poison ivy were saved.
According to Lieutenant Colonel Ho Thanh Quang - Political Commissar of Tri Le Border Post: The research to find the remedy and provide emergency treatment for patients with poison ivy by comrade Duc has a profound humanitarian meaning, brightening the image of the "green-uniformed doctor" in the hearts of the people. Currently, this remedy has been disseminated to military medical staff of units under the border force such as My Ly Post, Keng Du Post of Ky Son district and replicated to medical staff in villages, hamlets and people to increase the chance of saving the lives of victims of poison ivy.
Born into a family with a tradition of teaching in Thanh Long commune (Thanh Chuong), but following the border guard profession and then becoming a doctor in the highland villages, military doctor Le Anh Duc called it "fate". For more than 10 years working in the border commune of Tri Le - an area of ethnic minorities, with many backward customs and practices, especially in 5 villages without electricity, difficult transportation, and a lack of medicine and medical supplies, in addition to taking care of the health of officers, soldiers and people, Major Le Anh Duc has actively coordinated with colleagues, local Party committees and authorities to go to each village and hamlet to distribute medicine, vaccinate, propagate, and instruct on how to prevent and fight epidemics, and take care of people's health. The footsteps of the military doctor have left their mark in all 16 villages and hamlets in Tri Le commune.
When the Covid-19 epidemic broke out, Major Le Anh Duc participated in the epidemic prevention and control checkpoint, organized propaganda on Covid-19 epidemic prevention and control measures for the people and strengthened the Military Medical Team to serve the Covid-19 epidemic prevention and control work of the Border Guard Command. In addition, there was a time when he was mobilized to stay in remote areas such as the combined military-civilian medical station in Muong Long village. Realizing that the people here live quite closed-off, in order to communicate and do a good job of mass mobilization, Major Le Anh Duc learned the Mong language himself. He shared that to change people's awareness, propaganda and mobilization work must be persistent and "slow and steady wins the race". For example, in the past, when Mong people were sick, they only prayed, now they go to the commune health station and the hospital to get medical examination and medicine. Regarding the eradication of the poisonous plant, the core must still be propaganda to raise people's awareness of the harmful effects of this poisonous plant.
No matter where he is or what position he holds, Major Le Anh Duc is always trusted and respected by the people for his gentleness and dedication to the sick. “In particular, for people who accidentally eat poison ivy, if they are given emergency treatment and timely treatment according to Dr. Duc's prescription, the chance of being saved is high, but in the past, eating poison ivy meant certain death. Therefore, the villagers call Dr. Duc "God of Medicine", "the village's doctor", said Mr. Xong Ba Cha - Vice Chairman of Tri Le Commune People's Committee.
The medical ethics and efforts of Major Le Anh Duc have not only been recognized by the local Party Committee, government and people, but have also been commended by all levels and sectors through many Certificates of Merit, including the Certificate of Merit from the Border Guard Command, Ministry of National Defense, for his outstanding achievements in carrying out military logistics work. However, the greatest wish of this military doctor is that the lives of ethnic minorities in the border land will increasingly change, people will have better health care conditions and especially the problem of eating poison ivy will be eliminated so that no one will have to die unjustly because of eating poison ivy anymore.
