VietNamNet Bridge – For four centuries, the Tho Xuan (Long Lived) Clinic has been well known for its Vietnamese healing arts, medicinal herbs and doctors.

As the longest-standing traditional medicine clinic in the country, it treats many kinds of diseases with Vietnamese and western medicine, and is run by a young doctor, Phung Tuan Giang, who is in his 40s.

The 16th descendant of a herb-doctor family, Phung receives guests in a green Tho Xuan Duong uniform, rather than an oriental robe as many people would assume.

Giang said he is proud of the Phung family, one of the few families upholding traditional medicine and saving people for centuries.

Phung family records show that the founder of the family’s traditional medicine practice was Phung Van Duong, who lived under the Le King dynasty (1533 – 1788). Duong and his descendants all were appointed to important posts at the royal physician clinic.

Phung Van Con, who lived under the Quang Trung King dynasty (1788 – 1792), received the title “Glorious General” for saving soldiers during a legendary attack which defeated 200,000 Qing troops in 1789.

He was also awarded a golden coin, which has been passed down through generations of Phuong’s family as a precious artefact.

Treating diseases and saving patients by combining western and traditional Vietnamese medicine while honoring the traditional art of healing is the motto pursued by Giang and his colleague.

Giang not only learned how to treat diseases from the valuable lessons handed down from Phung’s family generation to generation, but also from the Vietnam Institute of Traditional Medicine and Pharmacy Vietnam.

This allowed him to obtain deep knowledge about the art of healing and take full advantage of both traditional and western therapies.

The young doctor said he luckily had opportunities to learn with 30 famous physicians, which helped him improve his knowledge and skills quickly.

Tho Xuan Duong Clinic not only includes Phung Tuan Giang, but also experienced herbalists who feel their patients’ pulse and make prescriptions, and medical workers who know how to use modern equipment and machines to diagnose patients’ diseases.

Giang and his associates at Tho Xuan Duong carry out seven diagnostic methods that combine western and oriental medicine, applying non-clinical methods as supplementary diagnostic methods.

At Tho Xuan Duong, doctors diagnose diseases not only by feeling the pulse but also by using modern equipment and medical tests. This allows them to discover patients’ problems quickly and accurately, thus improving treatment efficiency.

Tran Minh