As promised, we met Major, military doctor Le Anh Duc when he was preparing to go to the village with a medical bag and a bag of candy. We asked, “Where are you going, doctor?” – “The school has just informed that Tho Y D., a primary school student who was saved by eating poison leaves, has dropped out of school. I will stop by his house to see what is going on.” Hearing his answer, we offered to go with him to the village.
On the way, Military Medical 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 along the roadside. Therefore, whenever they are upset or sad, the villagers, especially the Mong people, often eat coneflower to commit suicide.
Little girl Tho YD (11 years old) in Pa Khom village was one of the lucky patients saved by Dr. 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 side of the road. When she saw the visitors, the Hmong girl shyly greeted them and then sat down. After checking her health and giving her gifts and cakes, Major Le Anh Duc kindly talked to her and advised her; told Tho Y. D.'s parents to monitor their child's 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 emergency treatment in time 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 eating of 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 seek out poison ivy for very normal reasons such as quarrels between husband and wife, conflicts between siblings, family opposition to romantic relationships...
Worrying 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 water combined with pennywort to detoxify poison ivy? After a period of research, in 2016 he invented an emergency medicine to treat patients with poison ivy poisoning from things available in nature and easy to make. He found banana tree trunks as big as his arm, washed them, cut them, then squeezed the juice and mixed it with crushed pennywort leaves. After that, he found a few live frogs, washed them, dropped them into the above mixture for 3-5 minutes, then removed the frogs (putting live frogs in the water was only to create a fishy smell to make the patient vomit).
According to Major Le Anh Duc, when a patient is poisoned by aconite, 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 gotu kola leaves and mix well (this time do not induce vomiting). If the patient is severely poisoned and cannot drink on their own, insert a nasogastric tube and use 3 - 5 liters of the mixture to clean the stomach. Along with that, combine with antihistamines, cardiac stimulants, anesthetics, 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, there were conflicts during their life together, and because he had been drinking, Mr. X. turned to poison ivy to commit suicide. Luckily, he was discovered, taken to the Border Military Medical Station and was given first aid by Dr. Duc and treated with his remedy. Mr. X. has now become a skilled construction worker 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 present, Major, military doctor Le Anh Duc has saved the lives of 24 poison ivy patients and the nickname "Miracle Doctor" was born from that.
Talking about the role of Dr. Duc and the border guards stationed in the area in the fight to repel the eating of aconite leaves among the people, Mr. Xong Ba Cha - Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of Tri Le commune said: Almost every year, there are a few cases of people eating aconite leaves. At the peak in 2020, the whole commune had 17 people eating aconite leaves, of which 10 died. In 2021, there were 10 people eating aconite leaves, 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 aconite leaves. Thanks to that, the eating of aconite leaves 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 expanded to medical staff in villages, hamlets and people to increase the chances 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 calls it "fate". After more than 10 years of 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 to distribute medicine, vaccinate, propagate, and instruct on disease prevention and control, and take care of people's health. The footsteps of the military doctor have left their mark in all 16 villages 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 prevention and control measures for the people and strengthened the Military Medical Team to serve the Covid-19 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 by 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 see a doctor and get medicine. Regarding the eradication of the poisonous plant, the core is still 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 those 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 physician”, said Mr. Xong Ba Cha – Vice Chairman of the People’s Committee of Tri Le commune.
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 a 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 borderland 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.
