Till date, the COVID-19 pandemic has witnessed many shining examples in supporting Da Nang’s pandemic prevention and control duties. Le Ngoc Quy, Pham Tu Luc, Nguyen Khanh Viet are three of the 65 outstanding Youth Union members who have just been awarded the ‘Living a meaningful life of the youth’ award in 2021 by the Da Nang chapter of the Viet Nam Youth Union. These doctors, police officers and medical staff spread their full of youth and the spirit of meaningful and useful life to the community via their dedication during days fighting against the COVID-19 pandemic.

Doctor Le Ngoc Quy (left) with his colleagues at Da Nang Lung Hospital. Photo: D.T

1. After the last critically ill COVID-19 patient requiring Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) had been discharged from hospital on October 18, 28-year-old doctor Le Ngoc Quy, working at Department of Internal Medicine 1, the Da Nang Lung Hospital, returned home for self-quarantine of 14 days after over 2 months on duty. “On the day this patient was discharged from the hospital, the whole team were happy and breathed a sigh of relief. Caring for and treating COVID-19 patients was definitely difficult; however, it gave me a lot of experience and good memories with my colleagues at other highly reputable hospitals”.

In the same vein, Doctor Le Ngoc Quy directly participated in the treatment of COVID-19 patients at the Da Nang Lung Hospital from the end of July 2020 with numerous difficulties. Especially, Dr Quy volunteered to stay at the hospital for more than 2 months to take care of and treat patients since August 2021.

“At first, I was quite nervous, but with the thought that I must do my utmost to save patients, I did not mind difficulties anymore. Moreover, I have always been encouraged by my family and conveyed experience by my sincere colleagues. Sometimes, there were many patients’ status becomes serious, my we were stress out and exhausted; however, thinking about the happy images of COVID-19 patients being discharged from the hospital makes us keep trying,” confided Mr Quy.

In fact, doctors, like Quy, had to begin living away from home behind the closed gate.  All of them tasted life away from their families for the first time.  The lockdown imposed on the Da Nang Lung Hospital overturned their body clock with working time, medical consultation meetings and examining the patients in a 24-hour work schedule. Their main concern overwhelming their minds is just how to treat the patients as best they can with a strong determination to fight Covid-19 by every means.

2. Lieutenant Pham Tu Luc, Hoa Ninh Commune Police, Hoa Vang District not only performed well at COVID-19 pandemic prevention and control checkpoints, in patrolling to handle violations but also enthusiastically participated in social duties locally.

In particular, at midnight late of August, he and local medical staff had to support a pregnant woman to give birth at home due to her fast labour. It was a bit confusing at first since he is not married yet, but seeing that the situation was urgent, so he followed the instructions of the medical staff to fully support the mother to give birth for the safety of the mother and her baby.

As a police officer in Hoa Ninh Commune, Lieutenant Luc has made continuous efforts to mobilise the public to comply with pandemic prevention and control regulations and coordinate with other forces to strictly tackle violations, along with present a host of gifts to extremely difficult circumstances.

Furthermore, he also supported people to prop up their houses and harvest crops during rainy days and storms.

3. Since the end of April, 26-year-old member Nguyen Khanh Viet of the Youth Union of Hai Chau District Medical Centre has worked hard to support epidemiological tracing, the sampling on people; assist in timely relocation of confirmed patients to treatment as soon as possible, ensure close contacts (F1) are transferred to designated concentrated quarantine facilities and close contacts of F1 (F2) are monitored at home regularly. Viet also supports screening and post-injection monitoring for more than 80,000 people.

“As a young officer, I always uphold the spirit and responsibility of a white-shirted soldier, devoting my utmost to the community. There were times we were exhausted due to staying up all night on duty, but being able to contribute with the anti-pandemic forces, I was completely happy" said Viet.

On October 13, the Da Nang chapter of the Viet Nam Youth Union awarded the “Living a meaningful life of the youth” award to 65 individuals with outstanding achievements. These are front-line doctors, police officers, soldiers, volunteers directly participating in duty at checkpoints, blockaded areas, supporting the transportation of necessities and goods for people. They are inspiring examples to the community in the prevention and control of COVID-19, actively supporting people to overcome difficult circumstances.

Reporting by DAN TAM- Translating by T.VY