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| People in Thuoc Ha village, Ham Yen commune, are drying medicinal herbs in preparation for sending them to customers. |
50 years in the pharmaceutical profession
In October, Thuoc Ha village had just experienced flooding due to the remnants of Typhoon No. 10, with water flowing in from upstream. Nearly 5 hectares of rice fields were covered in mud. Despite being quite busy cleaning up after the flood, village head La Thi Hai enthusiastically introduced me to the traditional healer, a veteran who has been practicing medicine and saving lives for 50 years.
Mr. Quan Quang Trong's newly completed house still retains its original plaster color. Mr. Trong said that at the beginning of 2025, he received 80 million VND in support from the Ministry of National Defense to complete the house after many years of dreaming and aspiring to build it.
Mr. Trong, born in 1949, is in his seventies, yet he remains robust, exuding the spirit of a soldier of Uncle Ho's army who has faced life and death on battlefields from Southern Vietnam to Laos. He recounts that he learned traditional medicine at a young age, at just 14 years old. Initially, he accompanied his father into the forest to gather herbs to treat people in his village. Gradually, his love for medicine, combined with his father's benevolent heart, seeped into him without him even realizing it. By the age of 20, he had memorized nearly 100 traditional herbal remedies to treat ailments related to the stomach, liver disease, bone and joint pain, blood clots, and more, and proved to be quite skilled in treating illnesses.
After enlisting in the army, Mr. Trong temporarily set aside his practice of traditional medicine to dedicate himself entirely to the country. It wasn't until 1975 that he returned and began reviving his profession, which he continues to this day. Mr. Trong said it took him nearly two years to sift through his scribbled notebooks to reorganize his prescriptions. He would ask his father for guidance on anything he didn't understand, and the story of his practice of traditional medicine gradually intensified. He shared memories of personally treating many difficult liver cases for patients as far away as Cao Bang and Thai Nguyen, as well as cases of blood clots in Ha Tinh and Co To Island, Quang Ninh…
"I was quite curious about the combination of medicinal herbs and how they go about gathering them," Mr. Trong explained. "Some medicinal plants are never found locally, for example, the Red Worm plant has to be sourced from Cao Bang, or endemic species from communes like Meo Vac and Lam Binh..." He confided, "Now that I'm old, I can't personally go and gather the herbs anymore; most have to be sent by bus. But the principle is to keep the whole plant, including the leaves, for accurate identification, because even a small mistake can affect the patient's life. That's also why he's always been chosen by the Traditional Medicine Association of the former Ham Yen district to consult on many difficult cases when needed."
Every year, at Mr. Trong's traditional medicine clinic, over 100 patients come for examination and treatment, and strangely, 90% recover. Neighbors gossip that every Tet (Lunar New Year), his house is filled with laughter as patients come to express their gratitude. Indeed, amidst the hustle and bustle of life, such simple stories always warm the heart, slow down, and bring a feeling of comfort and peace.
Preserving the craft
Village head La Thi Hai recounted that the traditional medicine practice in Thuoc Ha has existed for hundreds of years, but the younger generation is gradually losing the profession, and some valuable medicinal plants have been lost. To preserve the tradition, many households have proactively brought medicinal plants home to cultivate, but this is only the initial stage; it will likely take another ten years or more to see results.
Taking advantage of the bright sunshine before being affected by typhoon number 11, Ms. Ho Thi An is quickly stirring a batch of hepatitis medicine to send to the lowlands. Ms. An said that since the beginning of the year, thanks to recommendations from many people, she started selling some prescriptions online and received positive feedback.
I also boldly asked her how much a pack of medicine cost.
She replied, "I charge 100,000 VND for 6 doses. If it works, they can come back; if not, they can go somewhere else. Thankfully, only a few people have gone elsewhere so far."
In front of the spacious two-story house, there is a garden enclosed by red bricks and securely locked – this is Mrs. An's medicinal herb garden. The garden, about 100 square meters, is a diverse collection of medicinal leaves, some of which she painstakingly brought back from the mountains of Na Hang. She shared that preservation is essential for sustainability, as many valuable medicinal plants are now depleted in nature. If she doesn't cultivate them, a type of herb will be lost, meaning a related disease will become incurable.
In Thuoc Ha village, there are currently six elderly traditional medicine practitioners recognized by the state who are effectively practicing traditional Vietnamese medicine. Besides Mr. Trong and Mrs. An, there are also Mr. Bui Van Thong with his bone fracture treatment; Mr. Nguyen Van Binh with his treatment for bone and joint pain; Mr. Quan Van Vuot with his digestive remedies; and Mrs. Hoang Thi Vu with her infertility treatment… Although it is a disadvantaged commune (classified as a "Commune 135"), where people's lives are still difficult, Thuoc Ha is synonymous with kindness, because for many years, these traditional medicine practitioners have never used their profession to get rich, which is truly commendable.
Leaving Thuoc Ha at dusk, the road leading into the village was rough, rocky, and dusty. I still remember Mr. Quan Quang Trong's words, his only hope being that the younger generation would maintain the craft and that the locality would become a true herbal village. He was very kind to the reporter, even personally preparing a very precious stomach herb he had gathered from the Truong Son mountain range, and instructed that anyone suffering from stomach pain or digestive problems only needed to steep a few leaves in boiling water for guaranteed effectiveness.
Le Duy
Source: https://baotuyenquang.com.vn/van-hoa/du-lich/202510/chuyen-o-lang-thuoc-ha-b174553/
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