After 11 years of working as a military physician, Luu Van Dung moved to work for the Medical Center in Tay Giang District, Quang Nam Province, and the A Nong Commune Health Station in the mountainous district. Now, he is working at the Bau Bang Drug Rehabilitation Centre in Hoa Bac Commune, Hoa Vang District, Da Nang. The centre is a place to receive, manage, treat, educate and train people who illegally use drugs.

Dr. Luong Van Dung (right) giving medical treatment to a patient at the Bau Bang Drug Rehabilitation Centre

As the Head of the centre’s Health - Rehabilitation Department, physician Luu Van Dung is tasked with classifying and formulating a regimen for detoxification and rehabilitation therapy for drug addicts.

During the period, people who undergo detoxification not only change physical health, but also psychology, so it is very important to ensure the safety of patients as well as the medical staff.

In order to solve the abovementioned problems, Dung has made every effort to create effective methods so that the cessation and detoxification are both in accordance with the treatment regimen of the Ministry of Health as well as are close to the real situation of the centre and the health of each person.

Besides, Dung grows Vietnamese medicinal plants in the campus of the centre, as well as proposes leaders to build a steam room to make the detoxification and detoxification process more effective and safer, and set to management and health care areas for drug addicts suffering from mental disorders.

Mr. Le Van Hai, Deputy Director of the Bau Bang Drug Rehabilitation Centre, said that Dr. Dung worked hard, adhered to his duties, firmly grasped the health status of drug addicts. In addition, he often gives spiritual encouragement and active support to patients in a bid to help them feel secure during the implementation of detoxification treatment.

As a soldier trained and grown up in the military environment, Mr. Luu Van Dung always strives to enhance his moral and professional qualities.

Aside from his daily work, taking advantage of his leisure time, he studied and passed the entrance exam to the Hue University of Medicine and Pharmacy in 2014.

In the face of the increasing number of drug addicts at the centre showing signs of mental disorders, in 2021, Dr. Luu Van Dung advised and proposed leaders of the centre to establish a management and treatment area in order to ensure the safety of such patients, other detoxification practitioners and the centre’s medical staff as a whole.

With his dedication, over the past 2 years, he has treated nearly 40 drug addicts suffering from mental disorders. None of them have sent to the city’s Mental Hospital for further treatment.

During the complicated developments of COVID-19, in order to ensure the health and safety of centre’s trainees and staff, Dr. Luu Van Dung took the initiative to develop a plan for disease prevention, disinfection and sterilization, and make proposal for the establishment of a reception area for new drug addicts.

As a result, in 2020, 2021 and early 2022, there were no cases of COVID-19. In addition, Dr. Luu Van Dung also coordinated with hospitals and the city’s Center for Disease Control to give COVID-19 vaccines for the centre’s staff and people undergoing detoxification.

Every year, Dr. Luu Van Dung receives, examines, relieves, detoxifies, and treats nearly 3,000 patients on an average. Due to the nature of his job, he had to participate in the night duty in the unit for half of the time, so he had very little time to spend with his family. That's not to mention he has been assaulted by drug addicts undergoing treatment many times.

Besides professional work, Dr. Luu Van Dung actively gets involved in teaching topics on health education and on HIV/AIDS prevention and control for drug addicts at the facility, as well as providing counseling on how to detect drug use to the students' family members every Saturday and Sunday.

Thanks to his devotion to the medical profession, in 2001 he was awarded the Third-Class Medal Soldier of Glory, and was honoured as a grassroots emulation soldier in 2020 and 2021 and as an outstanding Party member for many years in a row.

Reporting by LINH DAN - Translating by M.DUNG