Assoc.Prof.Dr. Tran Danh Cuong – Director of the Central Obstetrics Hospital is currently one of Vietnam’s leading obstetrics experts. He is also a major contributor to the development of the field of screening, prenatal diagnosis and obstetric pathology of the country’s medicine, and is the one who brought prenatal diagnosis from France to Vietnam.
< figure class=image align-center" contenteditable="false"> Associate Professor, Dr. Tran Danh Cuong – Director of the Central Obstetrics and Gynecology Hospital![]()
However, few people know that Associate Professor Cuong’s coming to the medical field was like a “fate”. “strange” and the path to becoming an obstetrician begins with…”an incident”.
The meeting before Vietnam Doctor’s Day February 27 with the Director of the Obstetrics Hospital Central began in a simple and friendly way, just like him: “The other day my younger brother’s child entered Pharmacy school. It took his parents 2 days to prepare big bags, small bags, brown rice, white rice, red rice. I told you guys it’s really fun. In 1982, I went to Hanoi Medical University with exactly one mat and one bag.”
“Learning for what?” was a question he asked himself. set out from the first day he entered university. He spent 6 years diligently in school and more than 30 years of selfless dedication to the medical field to answer this question.
“I only have one goal when I go to school: To learn to become a physician to save lives,” Associate Professor Cuong said. “But there is another problem: where will I work when I study and have a job? . If you learn to have a profession to contribute to people and assert yourself, there is no other way than working in a big hospital. My family is very poor, my only way is to go to boarding school.”
Where he and his classmates decided “try your luck” is no other place than the place where he will spend his entire future career: the Institute for the Protection of Mothers and Newborns (now the Central Obstetrics Hospital).
Location The hospital director vividly remembers the moment he officially set foot on the path to becoming an Obstetrician: “It was a coincidence that that day, we went into the department office to meet Professor Duong Thi Cuong while normally She is very busy in the hospital room. She called us in to ask about our results. I said both the clinical and theoretical exams got 9 points. She chose it and the guy who came with me got another destination.”
“Ah, so it’s a profession. Choose people, people don’t choose careers. I don’t really like obstetrics, but because I didn’t have a bicycle, I became the current “obstetrician” Mr. Cuong,” he laughed.
Determined to master the profession during his boarding school from In 1987, Associate Professor Cuong was in the hospital almost 24/7.
There was even a period when he went back to school to get a certificate. When he went back to the hospital, he was chased away by security because he couldn’t recognize them. only familiar with the image of “Doctor Cuong wearing a blouse”.
The trip to France and the mission to “extend the doctor’s arm”
One of the most important stepping stones in Associate Professor, Dr. Tran Danh Cuong’s medical career was his time studying abroad in France.
He was fortunate to be recruited by a French professor to study as a doctor. resident doctor in France after the first meeting.
After more than a year of studying the language in 1995, he started going to France.
Where Associate Professor Cuong studied, there was a very famous professor of metaphysics. minus. Originating from the question “Why are Westerners so good at ultrasound?” He asked his teacher to study this field and then became one of the first Vietnamese people with an ultrasound doctor degree who could work in all French-speaking countries.
Below The perspective of an obstetrics expert Associate Professor Cuong commented that ultrasound is of great importance and is an indispensable support tool in obstetrics.
“Previously, ultrasound in our country was very poor. A simple examination seems to be unable to detect anything when detecting an abnormality, which is something very terrible. However, ultrasound is now an extremely important diagnostic method that helps extend the hands of obstetricians and increasingly modernized” Associate Professor Cuong emphasized.
In the 90s of the last century in Vietnam, obstetric diseases caused many mothers and babies to die.
At that time, Associate Professor Cuong believed that developing science and technology in machinery would be the key to solving this problem.
Therefore, he was determined to go deeper into learning ultrasound and examination methods. prenatal diagnostic test. Bringing this knowledge to the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology has helped reduce the rate of fetal death and complications in pregnant women.
“In the past, it was not wrong for the elderly to use a hand stethoscope, but now The longer the hand is extended using technology and equipment, the better the patient’s chances of early detection and effective treatment many” he said.
“Everything I strive for is for my mother”
Throughout the conversation, there were two times the famous doctor was serious. immediately burst into tears. The first time was when he mentioned the mat and bag when he first entered school and the second time was when he mentioned his mother.
France in 1995 received by Associate Professor Cuong A letter from my mother’s hometown.
“In the letter my younger brother wrote on the front, my mother wrote on the back with just four big words: “How are you?” I still remember that letter to this day. “Still kept” Associate Professor Cuong choked.
My mother is a “genuine” farmer who doesn’t have many words, but to this assistant professor she is the person he idolizes and respects the most.
He confided: “Everything I strive for is for my mother. Because he’s still alive, I’m still trying. At least let her brag: I gave birth to a son worth being proud of.”
Do not accept patient envelopes even if there is not a penny in the pocket
In 1991, Associate Professor Cuong graduated from residency. Then he was hired by Professor Cuong as a teaching staff but did not have a state payroll.
The period from 1991 to 1998 was accepted. This doctor described the “extremely miserable” period of his life when he went to work without a salary. He struggled to survive on surgical and surgical allowances.
< p>During those very difficult early days of his career, Associate Professor Cuong still maintained a stance that to this day he believes is one of the best decisions in his medical life.< /p>
Associate Professor Cuong shared: “I never accept envelopes from patients even when I am so poor that I don’t have any money in my pocket. After the surgery, the medical examination is finished; Many days when doing ultrasounds at the clinic, many patients came to thank me, but I did not accept them.”
Not accepting “thank you” gifts from patients at that time, many people said he was “foolish” but he always affirming that his thoughts are correct and believing in the law of cause and effect.
Going to the stage that Associate Professor Cuong described as “happy” and “making a lot of money”, this physician’s opinion is still very “strange”.
Associate Professor Cuong confided: “I rarely spend anything on myself. If I have money, I will take care of my family and support my colleagues. As for poor patients, I help a lot. Those people are suffering very much and are all in remote areas, so we can help as much as we can.”
He recalled his time as Head of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology in 2010, always thinking of ways to create favorable conditions. To serve patients well, once a “dead” patient asked the doctor for 200 million, he reported to the hospital leadership and then used this money to contribute an additional 300 million from his own pocket to improve the entire house. cleaning and installing air conditioning in the entire patient room.
“After installing the air conditioner, the entire patient room was cool and the patient even cleaned the floor lying on the ground. Happy!” Associate Professor Cuong laughed happily.
The director was “homeless”
In the questions surrounding the time after taking office Director of the Central Obstetrics Hospital, Associate Professor Cuong repeatedly emphasized: “I never thought I would be a leader and manager. It’s not really what I strive for. I speak the truth.”
He claimed to be a doctor and received an additional task as a director assigned by the state for a period of time.
Few people know that as a director of a central hospital, Associate Professor Cuong still does not have his own house. For him, a small room with a chair, TV, desk and sleeping area is enough because “I don’t have to do anything if I live happily”.
Associate Professor Cuong expressed his opinion about a “Director”. “: “Many people think that a director must have a private room and a private car to drive daily… Wrong! My duty is to manage the hospital and take care of the staff’s lives when they first take charge Director, the first thing I think about is how do people have family lives that they need to take care of? How does professional development develop? p>For him, being a director comes with many hardships. Suffering because I was trained to be a doctor and not a director; suffering because the workload is too large, so he has to put aside personal pleasures…
But according to him, being a director is not lacking in happiness.
“The family is happy for the friends. My friends are happy and my hometown is happy. My parents will be proud to have a son who is a director; my teacher in the countryside is also extremely happy, wherever he goes, he reminds me that his student is the director of the central hospital,” he laughed.
In the medical field, not serving patients is a failure
After more than 30 years of selfless contributions to the country’s medicine, this physician still There are still many concerns about the mission of serving patients.
“There is no place where a hospital is uglier than a hotel. The image of a hospital is dilapidated and the hospital bathroom is terribly dirty but is considered is normal like in us” his voice lowered.
He believes that in the medical field, if you do not serve patients, you will fail. Treating illness is part of serving the sick, which is another story. Patients always need to be more beautiful and better.
As a hospital director, Associate Professor Cuong’s greatest expectation is to make the hospital beautiful and clean to serve patients well.
“Good manners are like a mother’s” is a teaching that always retains its value. The obligation of those who wear the white coat is to relate to patients at a truly intimate and shared level.
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