Border Guard doctors loved by villagers

Traditional medicinal herb gardens at border posts in Gia Lai Central Highlands province help support medical treatment for officers, soldiers and people in the area. — VNA/VNS Photo Hồng Điệp

GIA LAI — Along with protecting the country's border sovereignty, the Việt Nam Border Guard also undertakes other important responsibilities and activities to help people stabilise their lives, take care of their health and develop the economy.

The doctors in green uniforms are dedicated to examining and treating people in border areas, helping to keep them healthy and happy as well as increasing their trust in the Party and the State.

Not only providing medicine, Border Guard doctors also teach local residents about self-care and disease prevention.

In the border areas, the climate is harsh, travelling is difficult and there is no modern medical equipment. Along with medicines, healthcare workers often use traditional herbs grown in the stations’ grounds to support the treatment of some diseases.

Saviours

Lieutenant Colonel Trần Anh Tuấn, medical officer of the Ia O Border Post in the Central Highlands province of Gia Lai's Ia Grai District, said that the military’s medical examination programmes are completely free.

Every month and every quarter, medical officers from border guard stations go to villages to provide medicine and examine residents' health.

For some conditions, such as joint pains and toothache, medical officers instruct people to take traditional medicinal leaves from their gardens to apply for long-term treatment.

During periods of dengue fever, malaria and flu outbreaks, the medical officers regularly go to each house to instruct residents on how to prevent and fight the disease.

With good health, people can work in the fields more steadily, thereby creating a connection and trust between the border guards and the residents.

When the residents of Bi Village in Ia Grai District's Ia O Commune are sick, the border medical workers are seen as "saviours".

Ksor Bơng, 74, said that the Ia O Station had established a medical centre in the village.

When residents are ill, they are directly treated, and medicine is also provided free of charge by the station.

People with health problems who come to ask for fever-reducing medicine or other medicines are examined and instructed on how to use it. If the illness is serious, they are advised to be transferred to a higher level.

Soldiers and residents

Understanding the difficulties and material shortages of the people in border areas, the border medical force has gotten close to residents and takes care of them.

Lieutenant Colonel Lâm Mạnh Tuyển, an officer of the Ia Chia Border Post in Ia Grai District, said that for many years, the post's medical staff has taken care of Puih Yông, a resident of Beng Village in Ia Chía Commune.

She is poor and lives alone, so the medical staff often take turns instructing her on disease prevention and how to take medicine to ensure good health, especially during cold winters.

Thanks to the enthusiastic support of border medical staff, disease rates in border villages have decreased significantly.

Ksor Tuâng, deputy chairman of the Ia O Commune People's Committee, said that the border medical staff is very active in keeping people healthy.

Activities to promote a clean environment as well as household visits to examine the elderly and children are regularly carried out by the medical staff.

Every year, since people in the commune take good care of their own health and environmental hygiene, the rate of dengue fever has decreased significantly. Other diseases have also been controlled to prevent epidemics in the area.

Over the past two years, the Gia Lai Province Border Guard medical force has examined and provided free medicine to nearly 5,500 officers, soldiers and residents in the border area, with the amount of medicine and gifts worth about VNĐ600 million (US$23,500).

Colonel Rơ Mah Tuân, political commissar of the Gia Lai Province Border Guard Command, said that in recent years, generations of medical officers and soldiers of the provincial Border Guard have actively participated in protecting and taking care of the health of soldiers and residents in the border area, promoting the role of ‘doctors in green uniforms’.

Border Guard stations have also provided initial medical examinations to Cambodian people under exchange programmes between the border guards of the two countries, or in cases where Cambodian people suddenly fall ill when visiting relatives in Gia Lai Province.

In the future, the Gia Lai Province Border Guard will focus on training medical workers and creating favourable conditions for medical staff to study and improve their professional qualifications to meet ever-changing requirements. — VNS