Taking care of the medical station's herbal medicine garden

Important medical criteria

For many years, Tu Ky Town Medical Station has been a typical example of the whole district in developing traditional medicine when the station's medicinal herb garden is always green with many types of medicinal herbs and plants. The medicinal herb garden is located in the station's campus, about 400 m wide.²There are more than 30 medicinal herbs divided into 5 groups used to treat common diseases such as diarrhea, acne, joint pain, colds, liver diseases...

To have a lush medicinal herb garden, the medical staff at Tu Ky Town Medical Station have worked hard to cultivate and care for it. In particular, in early spring, some organizations also coordinated and launched tree planting, adding many medicinal plant seedlings to make the medicinal herb garden more and more abundant.

Recalling the early days of building the medicinal herb garden in 2017, Ms. Pham Thi Hang, Deputy Head of Tu Ky Town Health Station, said that planting and maintaining the medicinal herb garden was quite difficult. In addition to the lack of seedlings and limited water sources, unsuitable soil quality was an obstacle when medicinal herbs were stunted, slow to grow, and weeds invaded. However, the medical staff at the station were not discouraged. Outside of medical examination and treatment hours, everyone took the time to hoe, weed, and improve the soil for medicinal herbs to grow. Thanks to that, the station's medicinal herb garden became more and more lush, not only ensuring a source of medicinal herbs to serve the people but also creating a green, clean, and beautiful landscape for the station.

Being directly assigned to take care of the medicinal herb garden, Ms. Hoang Thi Thanh Xuan, a traditional medicine practitioner at Duc Chinh Commune Health Station (Cam Giang) has a thorough understanding of every medicinal plant in the garden. The medicinal herb garden is only 100 m²However, due to its reasonable arrangement, there are more than 50 types of medicinal plants with 8 groups of uses. According to Ms. Xuan, the station's medicinal herb garden is the result of nearly 10 years of care by medical staff at the station. Due to the characteristics of many medicinal herbs that only grow seasonally, the station continuously adds plants with similar uses so that the garden does not become empty. Unfortunately, due to the impact of storm No. 3 in early September 2024, the medicinal herb garden suffered significant damage. In addition to the collapsed fence, some medicinal plants were broken, uprooted, and crushed. Currently, everyone at the station is working hard to restore the medicinal herb garden.

The herbal medicine garden at Duc Chinh Commune Health Station grows many familiar and close medicinal plants such as mint, basil, perilla, lemon basil, lemongrass, ginseng, plantain, and gentian. These medicinal plants are very effective in treating colds, typhoid, sore throat, clearing heat, reducing inflammation... through various forms of use such as drinking, steaming, applying on wounds... Therefore, when people come to the station for examination, depending on the condition, the doctors and nurses at the station advise on the use of a combination of Eastern and Western medicine, which is both effective and safe.

Medicinal gardens are an important criterion in the national criteria for commune health care by 2030, issued by the Ministry of Health in 2023. The construction and maintenance of medicinal gardens aims to affirm the role and value of traditional medicine, promoting harmony and effectiveness between traditional and modern medicine.

Still difficult

Health stations develop medicinal herb gardens not only to meet medical standards but also to raise people's awareness and understanding of traditional medicine.

Having taken her child to Tu Ky Town Health Station for vaccinations many times, Ms. Pham Thi Dung in An Nhan Tay area is no stranger to the herbal medicine garden at the station. Here, the medical staff introduced her to some herbal remedies to treat common diseases such as diarrhea, prickly heat, itching, etc. “There are many medicinal plants that are very close and familiar to me, but I do not know their uses. In the past, every time my child was sick, I immediately turned to Western medicine, sometimes even abusing fever reducers and pain relievers. Since I learned about herbal remedies, I have been more careful in using Western medicine to treat my child. When my child first showed signs of illness, I used herbal medicine, which is both benign and safe,” said Ms. Dung.

Despite its many meanings and values, the development of medicinal herb gardens at health stations today still faces many barriers. In addition to difficulties in facilities, regulatory problems also limit the construction of medicinal herb gardens.

Doan Tung Commune Health Station (Thanh Mien) has a model herbal medicine garden. Everyone who enters the station praises the lush, carefully tended garden. However, Ms. Bui Thi Thao, a traditional medicine practitioner at the station, is very concerned. According to Ms. Thao, to maintain and develop the herbal medicine garden, it is necessary to promote the effectiveness of traditional medicine examination and treatment. However, currently, medical examination and treatment without using drugs are not covered by health insurance, so traditional medicine examination and treatment at health stations are very limited.

According to regulations, health stations must have a medicinal herb garden or a set of medicinal plant paintings. Medicinal herb gardens are for stations with large campuses in communes, while medicinal plant paintings are usually in wards and towns with limited space. Nowadays, traditional medicine is increasingly emphasized, so health stations are also interested in and developing medicinal herb gardens. However, to avoid formality in building medicinal herb gardens at health stations, it is necessary to attach importance to efficiency and economic value.