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| Dr. Nguyen Minh Hung (far left) on a field trip to the flood-affected area of Phu Ho commune |
Dedication
The last time we met was during a severe flood at the end of October and early November 2025. At that time, Dr. Nguyen Minh Hung, Director of Phu Vang Medical Center, and his team braved the wind and rain, at one point riding a motorboat across vast, surging floodwaters, to assess the situation and offer encouragement to the medical staff at the Phu Ho Commune Health Station (Branch 3), who were stretched to their limits caring for residents in areas cut off for extended periods.
During that time, he went days without returning home, “leaving behind” his family, anchoring himself at the “headquarters” and overseeing all operations at the Medical Center. Emergency response, treatment, outpatient and inpatient care, and ensuring the basic needs of hospitalized patients all became increasingly urgent as floodwaters rose. He also directed and supported lower-level facilities, instructing them to save and protect people’s health by any means necessary.
There seemed to be no line between day and night. The light in the “command physician’s office” never went out. There, he endured many sleepless nights, fielding phone calls from midnight through two or three in the morning, from the flood epicenter of Phu Ho, reporting critical situations: a resident bitten by a venomous snake and falling into a coma; a young child with an unusually high fever; a mother going into early labor.
After each urgent call, from Phu Vang Medical Center, teams of doctors and nurses were dispatched without regard for the hour or the weather, heading to Phu Ho commune. There, they coordinated with commune police motorboats and staff from the Phu Ho Commune Health Station (Branch 3) to navigate the floodwaters and transport the injured and ill to emergency care. “When we reached the snakebite victim, we immediately transferred the victim directly to Hue Central Hospital. With timely emergency care, the patient pulled through death’s door and survived,” emotionally shared Dr. Nguyen Minh Hung.
Nearly five months have passed, yet the full range of emotions remains vivid in the heart of the white-coated virtuous physician: the gut-wrenching anxiety when a victim fell into a coma; the restless and minute-by-minute wait for the motorboat to ferry patients through the flood; the tense, breathless vigil while a patient received emergency treatment at Hue Central Hospital; and the overwhelming joy upon hearing that the patient had regained consciousness, reclaimed their life, and was gradually recovering.
Those same emotions stayed with Dr. Nguyen Minh Hung through a long, suffocating night — from the moment his colleagues at the Phu Ho Commune Health Station (Branch 3) pushed off into a catastrophic flood to reach a laboring mother, navigating pitch darkness, wind-thrashed waters, and the countless unseen dangers swallowed by the vast black flood. When dawn was nearly breaking, word came that mother and child were safe, and his colleagues had returned to the station unharmed — only then did the heart of the Phu Vang Medical Center’s leader finally find peace.
“I care deeply for the people and the healthcare workers serving in the flood zones and underprivileged areas.” These words come from the bottom of the heart of the physician who spent nearly a decade intimately bound to the flood-prone areas of Phu Vang district, giving immeasurable love to poor patients, dedicating his youth, passion, and commitment to healing the sick, and joining hands to care for and protect the People’s health.
The heart of a virtuous physician
Those were the days when the young doctor first took up his post at the Regional Polyclinic of the former Phu Vang District Medical Center, which is located in Vien Trinh village, former Phu Da commune. “At that time, the Phu Da area had no electricity. Residents from coastal and lagoon communes had to come by boat to reach the clinic. During the rainy and flood season, the area was cut off and conditions were many times more complex and difficult,” recalled Dr. Nguyen Minh Hung with nostalgia, remembering the life-threatening cases he and his colleagues fought to save patients from the brink.
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| Conducting a health check for patient |
Among those cases was a girl of about 12 years old who had swallowed pesticide out of anger at her mother. Her family brought her to the clinic in a panic. Realizing the danger she was in, the terrified child pleaded desperately: “Doctor, please save me!” At that time, medical supplies, equipment, and medicine were scarce, and the patient was standing on the line between life and death. Transferring her to a higher-level facility was not an option. Saving the patient at any cost - that was the command from the physician’s heart. Keeping calm, Dr. Hung called the higher-level facility for consultation while simultaneously beginning gastric lavage on the patient.
After four hours of initial treatment, the patient’s condition improved and responded well to the protocol. However, to ensure absolute safety, Dr. Hung and his colleagues contacted the higher-level facility to request transportation to transfer the girl to Hue Central Hospital. A life was preserved, an existence restored - that was a profound joy for the medical team, including Dr. Nguyen Minh Hung.
That joy has been his “guiding star,” driving Dr. Nguyen Minh Hung to pour his heart, responsibility, learning, and creativity into a journey alongside his colleagues in fulfilling the physician’s mission over the past 30 years. Having weathered countless hardships and challenges, from working independently at the regional clinic to transferring in 2003 to the Phu Vang District Medical Center and working in the Emergency Department, he came to deeply appreciate the power of solidarity and collective wisdom. The seamless and timely coordination among doctors, nurses, and specialized departments can create miracles, wresting life back from the jaws of death.
Ten years ago, Phu Vang District Medical Center began equipping and deploying a red-alert system, activated whenever emergency patients require the rapid mobilization of medical staff from multiple departments. “Over the past two years, we have continued to upgrade the system. Previously, it only applied to specialized departments. It has now expanded to 100% of all departments and units, including the canteen. Along with investments in modern equipment and machinery, the hospital-wide red-alert system has helped save many critically ill patients,” shared the Director of Phu Vang Medical Center. Currently, the Board of Directors is contracting with a specialized unit to apply technology so that any medical staff member - even on a day off or vacation - can activate the red alert. This means that even outside the hospital, experienced and highly skilled doctors and nurses can still participate and contribute to treating seriously ill patients.
Under the passionate leadership of this dedicated director, Phu Vang Medical Center now operates with 330 beds (against a planned capacity of 250–300), with a bed utilization rate of 104%. Among the hundreds of inpatients each day, few may know that the hospital’s Director has been awarded the honorary title of “Meritorious Physician” and many other distinguished honors. But patients, especially poor ones, are deeply moved and grateful to regularly receive, twice a week, nutritious meals from the hospital's charity kitchen. On many occasions, the physician himself, alongside staff, has personally handed out gift packages to patients with a warm and genuine smile. As Director, Dr. Nguyen Minh Hung has on numerous occasions approved fee waivers and the cost of medication and treatment for seriously ill patients in difficult circumstances, and quietly delivered the compassion of physicians into the lives of those who need it most.