Nguyễn Thị Lan examines a baby in Hồng Ngài Commune. — VNA/VNS Photo Hữu Quyết

SƠN LA — For over two decades, Dr Nguyễn Thị Lan has tirelessly served the residents of Hồng Ngài Commune, Bắc Yên District, in the mountainous northern province of Sơn La.

Despite facing numerous challenges, including difficult terrain, a lack of electricity, and a sparse population that clings to outdated customs, Dr Lan has become a trusted and reliable source of support for the local community.

Dr Lan, who graduated from Thái Bình Medical University, made the selfless decision to leave her hometown and family to serve the people of Hồng Ngài.

Her dedication and commitment to improving the health of those in her care led her to walk to remote villages throughout the area to provide medical examinations and education on abandoning outdated customs.

As head of the Hồng Ngài Commune Health Station, Dr Lan has spent years working to change the habits of the local population. Her efforts have not gone unnoticed, and she has become an invaluable asset to the community.

Despite the challenges she faces on a daily basis, Dr Lan remains committed to her work, driven by a desire to help those in need and make a difference in the lives of the people she serves.

"We have to go to sick people's homes to check, explain, encourage, and then take the patients to the health station for treatment. When they are cured, they believe they will live when they go to the health station. Since then, every time people get sick, they go to the health station," said Lan.

Lan's Hồng Ngài Commune Health Station has been newly built with two spacious floors and six medical workers. Every month, Lan organises training to update new medical knowledge for the station's staff and villages' health workers. She also assigns medical workers to each village weekly to teach local people about health policies and disease prevention measures.

Due to Lan's dedication, local people's health is carefully managed, medical programmes are recorded in detail, each village's difficult work is discussed solved, and working plans are set up. Furthermore, the station always has workers on duty all day to receive people's opinions and requests, providing them with timely medical examinations and treatment.

Hạng Thị Hùa, a resident of Hồng Ngài Commune, stated that her family was poor and did not have a motorbike, so every time her child was sick, she would ask Lan and other health workers to come to her house. As a result, Hùa's children receive free medicine, and her family trusts the medical workers at the commune health station.

Despite the difficulties, Lan's dedication to the local poor has remained unwavering. Living in Hồng Ngài Commune for many years, she knows every high mountain and deep stream leading to poor villages and hamlets by heart. With her unremitting efforts in health care for the community, Lan has become greatly appreciated and loved by the communes' and villages' leaders and each individual.

According to the Chairman of the Hồng Ngài Commune People's Committee, Lầu A Tủa, "With her role, enthusiasm, and responsibility, Lan has always been trusted and loved by local authorities and people. Lan has successfully implemented national health programmes in villages thanks to building and maintaining her reputation. With her professional qualifications and high skills, Lan has played an important role in bringing positive results in medical examination and treatment for people."

Many emergency cases have been handled by Lan, avoiding death, thereby improving the quality of medical examination and treatment at the grassroots level, said Tủa. — VNS