A doctor dedicated to his medical career in the mountains

One heart for the sick

In 1992, after graduating from Thai Binh Medical University and returning to his hometown in the coastal commune of Dien Thanh (Dien Chau district), young doctor Dang Tan Minh heard that the Nghe An Provincial Government Organization Board was recruiting doctors to work in the mountainous district of Quy Chau. With a desire to practice medicine to treat patients, Dr. Minh immediately applied and was accepted.

He eagerly set off without any hesitation about the destination being a “sacred forest, poisonous water”, where malaria was raging and causing death to many people; ignoring the rumors that “mountains are easy to go to, hard to return”. In the mind of this young doctor, the beloved Uncle Ho’s advice to medical staff was always firmly engraved: “We must throw ourselves into dirty places to clean them, we must throw ourselves into places of suffering to reduce suffering. A good doctor must be like a mother”.

With good medical skills and profound medical theory, Dr. Dang Tan Minh was quickly appointed by the leaders of the Medical Center as Head of the Chau Tien Regional General Clinic - Chau Tien Commune Health Station. This unit performs the task of examining and treating people in 4 northern communes of Quy Chau district (Chau Tien, Chau Binh, Chau Thuan and Chau Thang) and performs preventive tasks for Chau Tien commune.

In the 90s of the last century, the place where Dr. Minh worked was also considered a remote area of ​​the mountainous district of Quy Chau. From here to the district center was less than 20km but people had to travel for a half day. Before that, there were cases of seriously ill patients dying on the way from the commune to the district for treatment. In the 4 communes in the North of Quy Chau district at that time, customs and practices were still backward, when people were sick, they still invited shamans to perform rituals; many women gave birth at home.

Realizing his responsibility, young doctor Dang Tan Minh at that time was determined to build Chau Tien Regional General Clinic - Chau Tien Commune Health Station into a miniature hospital to reduce some of the hardships and difficulties of people every time they went to see a doctor; doing a good job in professional work to make people believe in doctors and medical staff so that from here, the propaganda work on disease prevention, population and family planning... could reach people's hearts.

Going into action, on the one hand, Dr. Minh is looking for resources to upgrade medical equipment for the clinic, meeting the requirements of medical examination and treatment tasks; on the other hand, he is trying to learn and improve his own skills and encourage and help his colleagues to progress together. Along with that, Dr. Minh also requires the doctors and nurses at the clinic - medical station "not to wait but to proactively come to the people" - if anyone is sick and cannot come to the clinic, the medical staff must cross streams and mountains to go to their homes to treat them.

With the dedication of Dr. Minh and the medical staff of Chau Tien Regional General Clinic - Chau Tien Commune Health Station, the work of medical examination and treatment, health care, and implementation of health programs in 4 communes has had positive changes. From a place where very few villagers came to the clinic - health station for medical examination and treatment, gradually people came to the clinic - health station when they were sick, believing in the medical skills of the doctors and nurses, and then overcoming backward customs and practices.

Doctor Minh could not remember how many people he had treated, but he only knew that not long after (since the day he returned to his post), many people in Quy Chau affectionately and affectionately called him “Ai (brother) Minh” and “Po (father) Minh”. Ms. Sam Thi Hoa, a resident of Chau Tien commune, recalled: “Doctor Minh was very attentive to his patients, treating them like his own family. At the same time, he was also very “good-handed”, helping people recover quickly… Later, he moved to the district, but people still remembered him.”

Regarding prevention work, every day, doctors and medical staff of Chau Tien Regional General Clinic - Chau Tien Commune Health Station have actively promoted awareness changes for people from the simplest things such as drinking boiled water, cleaning the house, washing hands before eating, sleeping with mosquito nets to vaccinating children; mobilizing villagers to apply family planning measures, personal hygiene, common disease prevention to midwifery... It is the efforts and specific actions of Dr. Minh and his colleagues that have gradually changed people's bad customs in health care.

The development and dedication of the medical staff here have been recognized. In 1999, Chau Tien Commune Health Station, Quy Chau District received the Emulation Flag of the Ministry of Health for its outstanding achievements leading the emulation movement. Dr. Dang Tan Minh - Head of Chau Tien Commune Health Station personally received a Certificate of Merit from the Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee for his outstanding achievements in performing his duties (according to Decision No. 231/KT-CT dated February 12, 2000 of the Chairman of Nghe An Provincial People's Committee); and attended the conference to commend typical examples of the industry.

Many contributions to mountainous medicine

Recognizing the achievements of Dr. Dang Tan Minh, in 2001, Quy Chau Medical Center transferred him to work at the unit, taking on the duties of Head of Internal Medicine - Pediatrics - Infectious Diseases and Head of General Planning Department. In the spirit of "being a child of the mountains and villages", in his new position, Dr. Dang Tan Minh tried harder to study and contribute to building the District Medical Center in particular and the health sector of Quy Chau district in general to become stronger and stronger... Always excellently completing all assigned tasks, Dr. Minh was successively appointed to higher positions such as Deputy Director (in 2003) and Director of the District Medical Center (in 2014).

With the enthusiasm, responsibility and exemplary role of the leader, over the years, under the leadership of Dr. Dang Tan Minh, Quy Chau District Medical Center has achieved many achievements in various fields of work, rising to become the leading unit in the mountainous districts of the province.

From 2019 to now, the medical examination and treatment at the center has made a lot of progress when it has provided emergency care and treated many serious cases; deployed many new techniques, upper-level techniques (laparoscopic surgery for surgical and obstetric diseases such as laparoscopic appendectomy, gastric perforation, ovarian cysts, ectopic pregnancy, laparoscopic total hysterectomy, partial hysterectomy, uterine fibroid removal, various bone fusion surgeries...) to help patients avoid having to be transferred to upper-level hospitals. The initial medical examination work at 12 commune and town health stations of the district has been effectively implemented; maintaining the number of people coming to the health station for medical examination and treatment at an average of over 30,000 people/year.

Preventive health care in Quy Chau district has been focused on. Monitoring and grasping the epidemic situation in the area have been proactively carried out. Target programs and national health programs have been effectively implemented in the community. The rate of full vaccination for children under 1 year old reached 96%. 100% of patients with non-communicable diseases (blood pressure, diabetes...) are managed at the health station.

In management, Dr. Dang Tan Minh pays special attention to promoting administrative procedure reform and applying information technology to hospital management. Accordingly, the District Medical Center has opened 3 more clinics and arranged more staff at the clinic; established a reception team to guide and assist staff and people when they come for medical examination and treatment; promoted the effective application of information technology in medical examination and payment of hospital fees to help patients pay faster, such as electronic medical records, LIS software, PACS, online meeting system.

To further improve work efficiency, Quy Chau Medical Center has also promoted training activities, sending staff to participate in short-term and long-term training courses. Doctor Dang Tan Minh said: "Currently, there are 9 staff being sent to participate in training, including 5 people training in Specialist 1, 4 people in orientation specialist, 1 person training in doctor; 2 people training in nursing college to bachelor of nursing... Besides creating conditions for staff and civil servants to study to improve their professional qualifications and political theory, the center has also tried to improve their material life so that each person can work with peace of mind and assign work appropriate to their capacity and qualifications."

Not only does he perform his management duties well, Dr. Dang Tan Minh also sets a shining example of dedication to patients as well as leading the scientific research movement of the unit when he directly participates in examining, treating, rescuing seriously ill patients, and consulting on difficult cases with specialized departments every day. Every year, Dr. Minh has a scientific research topic, applying science to improve the quality of medical examination and treatment, improve services and techniques, and better implement population work and disease prevention in the district.

Doctor Dang Tan Minh has been awarded many Certificates of Merit by the Chairman of Nghe An Provincial People's Committee for his achievements in work and emulation movements; achieved the title "Excellent Medical Ethics"; was recommended by the Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee and the Provincial Council to the President to award the title of Meritorious Physician. Looking back on his work, he has never been satisfied. Doctor Dang Tan Minh confided: "Medical care in mountainous areas still has many difficulties. I have not contributed much. I only know how to try every day to help the people."

With more than 30 years of working in the mountainous district of Quy Chau, Dr. Dang Tan Minh is a very dedicated and devoted person to his patients, clearly showing the heart of a good doctor and is loved by the people. He is very responsible, dedicated to his work, and has made many contributions to the district's health sector. The remarkable development of the district health center and grassroots health care in recent years has great contributions from Dr. Dang Tan Minh.

MR. LE THANH HA - VICE CHAIRMAN OF QUY CHAU DISTRICT PEOPLE'S COMMITTEE