Doctor Tran Chu in the memory of his son
(Baonghean)- I met Dr. Tran Phong - son of Tran Chu, the first Labor Hero of Nghe An Medical Sector in his private house in Quynh Giang Commune, Quynh Luu. He is the third child in the family and the only one of 6 siblings to follow his father's career as a doctor. He has reached his fifties, and has experienced the bitterness and sweetness of his career and life, but his memories of his father are still intact...
(Baonghean)- I met Dr. Tran Phong - son of Tran Chu, the first Labor Hero of Nghe An Medical Sector in his private house in Quynh Giang Commune, Quynh Luu. He is the third child in the family and the only one of 6 siblings to follow his father's career as a doctor. He has reached his fifties, and has experienced the bitterness and sweetness of his career and life, but his memories of his father are still intact...
Miracle of a grassroots doctor
Tran Chu was the first person to be awarded the title of Labor Hero of the Health Sector in Nghe An, and also the first Hero of the grassroots health sector in the whole country.
Starting from 1954 - 1955, Tran Chu worked as the Head of Quynh Son Medical Station (now Son Hai Commune). In 1960, he was transferred to work as the Head of Cau Giat Medical Station. After many changes, finally, Doctor Tran Chu returned to work in Quynh Giang in the early 70s and from there built a typical medical station of the whole country that until now is still difficult for any medical station to do.
First of all, it is necessary to collect and grow medicinal herbs at the station to create a local source of medicine.
Doctor Phong said: “To have more good medicinal herbs to plant, my father and the staff at the station traveled to many regions of the country, even to neighboring countries such as Laos and China to search and collect. Since I was a child and witnessed my father traveling all over the North to find the best peppermint essential oil variety, or going to Sapa to bring red artichoke varieties back to the medical station, I have felt admiration and great respect for the work my father is doing.”
Doctor Tran Chu next to a lamp lit by biogas.
(Photo provided by family)
Not only growing medicinal herbs to meet the needs of the station, physician Tran Chu also processes medicine.
One of the ways to treat and save people is to teach people how to give themselves first aid before going to a medical facility. Quynh Giang Medical Station has disseminated and promoted to each family the experience of growing and using medicinal plants to treat common diseases at home, which is convenient, cheap and non-toxic.
Doctor Tran Chu is not only a good doctor, but also a creative scientist. Since the 70s of the last century, he has paid great attention to environmental issues, researching and building biogas pits to compost waste, creating gas for lighting and cooking, and at the same time processing waste into compost to water the station's medicinal garden. The first methane gas furnace in Vietnam
All these achievements have made Quynh Giang Medical Station a typical bright spot of the post-war health sector, attracting thousands of delegations from the province as well as the whole country to study and replicate the model. Most of the high-ranking leaders of the Party and State have visited, as well as many foreign delegations. Each delegation that came to visit, Dr. Tran Chu enthusiastically welcomed and imparted his knowledge, experience and lessons.
In 1985, Tran Chu was honored by the State with the title of Hero of Labor, a worthy reward for his tireless contributions!
Priceless lessons from a father
Doctor Tran Chu of Quynh Giang Medical Station, for Doctor Phong, was both a father and a teacher whose lessons for his children from an early age were a life of tireless work and dedication, a good doctor and a virtue that were not expressed in words, but in simple daily actions. Doctor Tran Phong said: “There is a story from when I was a child that I still remember to this day. Back then, my father worked all day at the medical station, and when he got home, he continued to stay up late reading books, researching, and exploring. One day, seeing that my father had just gone to bed, someone knocked on the door. The children felt sorry for their father and wanted him to sleep a little longer, so they lied and said that he had not returned home yet. The old man in the house turned over, coughed once, got up, picked up his bag and left. At night, whoever called him, regardless of whether they were rich or poor, they would wholeheartedly treat them.
At that time, I was still young and did not fully understand the work of a doctor. Later, when I grew up and understood more about the profession, especially when I personally examined people, I respected and admired my father's medical ethics even more, and that was an example for me to follow.
Not only devoted to his patients, in his social relations with everyone, Mr. Tran Chu also showed enthusiasm and thoughtfulness. Doctor Phong recalled: “My father often invited guests to his house to visit and eat. In the past, every time there were guests visiting the Quynh Giang Medical Station, or people coming to learn about growing medicinal herbs, making biogas tanks, etc., he would take them home. At that time, there was no such thing as the commune or the medical station inviting guests to eat. There were times when he came home at mealtime, and the whole family would give their meals to the guests.” Perhaps it was because of that selfless enthusiasm that not only the patients but also many other friends loved Dr. Tran Chu.
Sharing about his decision to follow his father's path of studying medicine to return to his hometown to treat patients, Dr. Phong said that it was also due to an urge from within himself, when he understood his father's work as well as saw the worries of patients, their trust and confidence in doctors. And partly, it was also because he wanted to preserve the family's traditional profession (the father of Dr. Tran Chu used to be a pharmacist).
Doctor Phong also confided that, in the past, he was not a diligent student from the beginning, but was quite lazy. But Mr. Tran Chu once said: "If you pass the exam, then go to school, if not, then buy a cart at home to work in the fields". Tran Phong understood that the reputation or respect that people had for his father was not a bridge for him to enter life more easily than others, but everyone was the same, he needed to make efforts and try. He did not take the university entrance exam right away, but before that, he joined the army for 5 years. Joining the army was also to practice virtue first, practice will, determination, perseverance, and practice a responsible lifestyle. And Tran Phong has matured a lot since that time.
In 1979, on a train to Hang Co station (now Hanoi station), passing the University of Science and Technology, seeing the parabolic school gate and students going to school: “In my heart, there was an indescribable feeling, the image of the university lecture hall had something very beautiful and great, urging me to be determined to complete my mission to the Fatherland, to the country, after returning, I would take the university entrance exam. And after leaving the army, I returned and realized my dream, standing on the university lecture hall, becoming a student at Hanoi Medical University”, Dr. Tran Phong shared.
Learning to be a doctor, he then paid more attention to his father's work, following him to examine patients, and learned a lot about both knowledge and medical ethics from his father. Later, when he entered the medical profession to save people, Dr. Tran Phong always kept in mind: “Back then, things were difficult and lacking in everything. My father was just a commune doctor, with two hands and a stethoscope, but he still examined and treated patients, constantly innovating to save more patients. As for me, I was able to study to become a doctor, with better conditions and more means, so I had to do more. But the most important thing for a doctor is still the heart, the medical ethics. At that time, people in the area still passed on the saying: If you die without being examined by Dr. Chu, you will die unjustly. If you have been treated by Dr. Chu, but you cannot survive and die, there is nothing to regret. People even said that when you are seriously ill, opening your eyes and seeing Dr. Chu sitting next to you examining you will feel that your illness has improved, the pain has decreased. Maybe that is an exaggeration, but it is the heart of the doctor that gives peace of mind and trust, which is the first spiritual medicine to help the patient. get well soon
The first lesson in the medical field that I learned from my father was not a medicine but how to interact with patients. Right from the greeting of patients and their families, the way he asked about their illnesses, then gave them very thoughtful and dedicated instructions. My father taught me, in a simple, natural but profound way, about good medicine, about the style of a doctor. Life has ups and downs but ethics remain forever, the patient needs first and foremost the heart of a doctor"... Doctor Tran Phong (Deputy Director of Quynh Luu Medical Center) ended our conversation with those heartfelt words!
Lake Lai
