By Hà Nguyễn

Nguyễn Đình Trứ of Việt Nam was presented with the ASEAN Award as an outstanding herbalist who had made significant contributions to the community.

He was among 100 outstanding enterprises and businessmen from ASEAN nations, invited by the ASEAN Enterprise Association, to receive the award in Thailand last week.

Trứ, 60, from Hà Nội, was presented the award for his effective treatment of gastritis and colitis, apart from many other diseases such as kidney stones and strangury.

Bùi Hữu Giao, 80, a patient from the southern province of Bình Dương, who had suffered from otitis since he was a little boy, said, “My parents took me to many places and herbalists for treatment, but my ears continued to discharge matter all year until six years ago when someone told me about herbalist Trứ.”

“Trứ asked me carefully about my ailment and then gave me a dose of medicine. After a week, the ailment disappeared and has never reappeared in six years,” Giao said.

Nguyễn Thị Thọ, 45, who faced gastritis for a decade, said she had spent more than VNĐ100 million to treat the ailment but failed, until she began her treatment recently under Trứ. At a cost of only VNĐ200,000, she was completely cured.

Thọ said, “I was prepared to pay any amount of money Trứ asked, but to my surprise, the treatment was very cheap.”

Asked why and when he went into the health sector, Trứ said his mother lived with chronic headaches and his younger sister suffered heart failure when she was young.

“I loved them so much that I decided to study medicine so that I could treat them, my friends and my neighbours,” he said.

He spent all his time in research and accumulated medical knowledge via books and outstanding herbalists nationwide.

“I travelled throughout the country to research and learn about traditional medicines from herbalists Thật and Tý in the northern provinces of Bắc Giang and herbalist Giằng in the central province of Thanh Hóa and many others in the south,” Trứ said.

As a result, after 50 years of pursuing traditional medicine, he has treated thousands of patients who faced different ailments including vestibular disorder, stomach upset and bronchial asthma.

“I have tried to find out the basic source of an ailment and treat it from its root. My effort is to help patients recover soon without the ailment recurring, and most importantly at affordable costs,” Trứ said.

For example, it needs only 5g of traditional medicine to treat a patient with dermatitis plantaris sicca, or 3g for a patient with a stomach ache.

His experiences have also helped him treat children effectively. For example, for a child suffering from diarrhoea, Trứ can only needs to see his or her nether region to see whether it is red or not, and then prescribe medication.

“My secret is to know the symptom of an ailment well and treat it effectively,” Trứ said.

In 1984 Trứ announced his research on gastritis caused by Helicobacter Pylori (HP) which Australian scientists discovered in 1995.

The difference was that Trứ discovered an herbal cure for the ailment.

His fame flies far and wide, and patients from every region in the country come to him for treatment. They say Trứ’s ethics are great and his medical professional is excellent. He often examines the patient very carefully before prescribing the medicine.

Several foreign investors including those from China, have asked Trứ to co-operate with them or sell them his precious remedies but he has refused. “I will leave it for my community if it is approved by the Ministry of Health. If not, I will leave it for my children,” Trứ said.

Unfortunately, he is now faced with renal haemodialysis and has to travel to Hữu Nghị Hospital thrice a week for treatment.

Despite that, he continues to treat patients, both adults and children.

His tireless efforts finally paid off. Last year, he was among 80 outstanding physicians, awarded a prize in the name of Hải Thượng Lãn Ông Lê Hữu Trác, a famous physician of Việt Nam in the 18th century.

Now comes the ASEAN award for being an outstanding herbalist who has made a sterling contribution to the community. — VNS