Kim Long Charity Clinic

We began work at the Kim Long Charity Clinic this week. Dr Nguyen Thi Dien is the medical director of this clinic which provides free services to over 35,000 people in the Thua Thien and Quang Tri provinces. Despite what you might think, given that Vietnam is a communist country, medical care is not free and patients must pay a fee-for-service for clinic visits, labs, xrays, medicines, etc. The Charity Clinic was started in 1992 to provide free care for those who cannot afford it otherwise, and has grown every year under the careful stewardship of Dr Nguyen and her colleagues. Patients travel for miles from the rural parts of the province and arrive early in the morning to wait to be seen. Each day starts with an education session, this one geared toward reducing the stigma of HIV/AIDS.


Dr Nguyen is a force of nature. Standing at barely 4'10" (making me appear like a giant), she supervises a staff of over 20 volunteers. Her office is full of medical texts and careful records of donations and health statistics from the province. I was thrown right into the fray on Tuesday morning, occupying exam room 14 with my wife Holly and an interpreter, Nguyen. We saw patients with arthritis, heart disease, diabetes, hypertension - the usual for an American clinic, but with a vastly different toolset. We didn't know the function of about 25% of the medications on the limited list that the clinic carries. Lab tests, xrays, and referrals, while available, are understandably reserved for the sickest of patients.



After a siesta during the hottest part of the day, we started all over again in the afternoon. Holly and I have been brainstorming about simple ways to systematize some of the care here and to bring in some new educational tools for the staff and patients. Friday we will do home visits with some of the sicker HIV patients in the province, which should be yet another invaulable learning experience. In two weeks we will move over to the medical university, where I hope to learn about the medical education system in Vietnam. Holly and I will participate in teaching the medical students.