Located nearly 40 kilometers from the district center, 95 percent of the local people in Drang Phok are ethnic minorities. Therefore, local people regularly go to the military-civilian medical clinic of the Dak Lak provincial Border Guard Command located right in Drang Phok village.
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Major Cao Duc Dien checks locals' health. |
Ignoring holidays and break time, Major Cao Duc Dien in charge of running Drang Phrok military-civilian medical clinic (under Serepok Border Station) often works around the clock and is ready to help the locals.
Major Dien shared that Drang Phrok people are facing difficulties in living conditions. There also exist many outdated customs and traditions. In the past, when people were sick, their families invited a shaman to their houses to get rid of ghosts or used herbs to treat diseases. As a result, many patients got worse or even died.
Knowing this situation, in 2009, the Dak Lak provincial Border Guard Command called for donations and built a medical clinic to serve local people.
Every day, Major Dien provides medical examinations and medicines for 10 to 15 local people. However, he encounters many difficulties in communicating with the locals because some cannot speak Vietnamese. Also, the clinic is often in the shortage of medicines.
Along with providing health check-ups and treatment, the clinic has coordinated with local medical forces to give local people free medicines sponsored by organizations and benefactors and instruct people on how to prevent diseases, such as COVID-19, malaria, dengue fever, among others.
Meanwhile, the clinic has conducted a number of meaningful activities to help local people, including encouraging parents to send their children to school, disseminating information about the protection of the environment and border sovereignty, and law observance, as well as guiding the locals to raise livestock and cultivate agricultural products.
Translated by Quynh Oanh