A snapshot of the Tam Dao Range in the northern province of Vinh Phuc, where more than 100 herbal doctors practice their trade

It can be said that they have not taken the Hippocratic Oath, and that many have not even heard of the father of modern medicine.

Most of the practitioners are San Diu ethnic minority people whose knowledge of the medicinal plants that abound in the range is passed down through generations.

With 70 of the traditional medical experts residing there, Vinh Phuc Province’s Ho Son Commune is known as “herbal doctor village.”

And it is not just knowledge that is passed down through generations, but also medical etiquette, a code of ethics that they have to live their lives and practice their traditional profession by.

“As a child, my grandparents taught me not to be indifferent to patients’ pain, hesitant to face difficulties or miseries, and not to treat patients for money,” says herbalist Truong Huu Tai.

“Until now, I remember their teachings. Therefore, however poor my patients are, I still prescribe medication and give them medicine without payment.

“Each time I save a life, I feel that I am younger.”

In his house, Tai hangs a plate of nine teachings of a well-known herbal doctor, Hai Thuong Lan Ong Le Huu Trac, who devoted his life to Vietnamese traditional medicine in the 18th century. He has also posted 12 principles of modern medicine in front of the door as a constant reminder.

“The other families opening clinics also hang these principles to abide by them,” Tai says.

Some of the doctors here are not ethnic minority people, and some are also native of other provinces.

Nguyen Cong Phuong from Me Linh District in Hanoi, married Pho Thi Man, a San Diu girl, and learnt herbal medicine from his mother-in-law.

“My mother-in-law was very good at Vietnamese traditional medicine and she passed her skills to me,” Phuong says.

Phuong is a popular herbalist in the Tam Dao Range. He is also chairman of the oriental medical association in Tam Dao District.

Opening the door of a cupboard, Phuong shows letters expressing gratitude written by patients from the provinces of Soc Trang, Can Tho, Yen Bai and Lang Son.

Clearly, the health of the patient is the paramount concern of the herbal medicine practitioners, not the money they make.

In addition, they also impose regulations on themselves as a community. For example, new herbalists are not allowed to take any payment from patients, and others are not permitted to take any money for conducting health examinations.

These regulations have become a village custom. Anyone who does not obey them is reprimanded or disciplined at meetings of the practitioners in the area.

“My medicine comes from nature, from the mountain, and I just spend my efforts to pluck them,” says Le Quang Trung.

“Many families are poor and their families run out of money going here and there to find good treatment. So I help them without taking any payment.”

Existential threat

The Tam Dao Range is well-known for its valuable and rare herbal plants and animals.

However, along with the widespread poaching of wildlife in the area, many precious herbal plants are in danger of extinction because of over exploitation.

In the not too distant past, residents could pick up herbal plants as they passed by the edge of the jungle. Now, they must climb up to the summit of the mountain or go deep into the forest to get them.

The precious plants have become much more so.

Some of the herbal doctors cannot get the plants by themselves, and have to buy them from residents in mountainous villages.

Concerned about the disappearance of many of the herbs, many experts are climbing up the range to find and cultivate them.

“Previously, the Tam Dao Range had over 600 medicinal plant species but now it has reduced to about 300,” Tai says. “In the past, we could see these plants grow luxuriantly everywhere, but now they can be seen only deep in the jungle, or in doctors’ gardens.”

Tai also grows some herbal plants in his garden, but many herbal plants cannot adapt themselves to the soil or be cultivated easily. They wither and die.

Like Tai, Luong Y Phuong has a plot to grow medicinal plants. However, it has been narrowed down to build houses for his children and widen the road.

“The plants grew well in my garden five or six years ago so I never worried about their not being available, but now, the space has been narrowed, and the environment is getting more and more polluted. Many plants have died.”

“I can’t find them to grow them again,” he adds.

Many of the herbalists have the same story. They are trying to preserve the precious plants in their gardens, but say the danger of losing them is great.

Source: SGGP