Dr. Que's Clinic

This afternoon Hong Anh took some of the group out to visit Viet Nam's first free health clinic, opened 17 years ago, to serve the poorest of the poor here in Hue. We found out that Dr. Que is well known for having dedicated her life to helping the sick and the poor. She and her volunteer team of retired health professionals prescribe a combination of traditional and Western remedies and all treatments and medications are given free of cost to patients. Her clinic, staffed by volunteers, is entirely funded by private donations. In particular, Hong Anh's father, To Ly, has been giving donations to the clinic for many years, which is how we found out about Dr. Que's work at the Phong Kham Chua Benh Tu Thien Thuong Lac.

The group has been to many places in and around Hue these two weeks, but no place had anywhere near the impact that Dr. Que's clinics of last hope did. While visiting two locations, tissues were passed around as students followed Dr. Que on her rounds and she was greeted by patients, both those recovering and some dying. Daisy and Amy, the two sisters in the front, are going to do a project on these private voluntary clinics in Hue, and plan to raise money in California to help. Andrew, pictured left, also intends to share his experience today when he gets home to encourage others to donate money to this worthy cause.

The doctor also founded a hospice in association with an adjacent Buddhist pagoda in the outskirts of Hue for people who have been diagnosed as terminally ill and sent home by local hospitals when they no longer have money to pay for treatment. There, a centuries old fasting technique is used as an alternative to morphine and other western drugs to bring a more peaceful pain-free end to illnesses. Many patients who were told they only had a week to live have actually been cured by this method.


Dr. Que is insistent that a combination of fasting, eating organic brown rice, and drinking green tea are cure-alls to many ailments. She had a stone ground water well dug before the buildings were built so that the water that her patients drink will not contain any contaminents or chlorine. While most streets and parks are filled with noise, beeping horns, stress, and the angst of a restrictive society and developing economy, the hospice was a model of tranquility, a peaceful garden and sanctuary setting where the students were truly impressed and overwhelmed by the intense compassion and selflessness exhibited here by Dr. Que and her fellow volunteers.