Located 80 kilometers from Da Lat City, Di Linh district has a population of around 160,000, most of whom are K’Ho ethnic minority people. It is one of the most disadvantaged districts in Lam Dong province, famous for “exporting” ethnic minority doctors.

According to K’Be Dackrong, deputy director of the Di Linh Medical Centre, Di Linh has led the province in the number of doctors and nurses for several years. Eighteen communal medical stations have doctors and nurses and ten of them meet national medical standards. Gia Hiep is a case in point.

Doctor K’Son who has been working at the Gia Hiep Medical Station for more than 10 years said the station has produced some impressive figures: the vaccination programme was implemented in 97 percent of communes and the number of malaria cases reduced by half compared to last year. The station receives 20 to 25 patients per day. Efforts made by Gia Hiep and other medical stations have brought about a lot of changes in local people’s awareness of healthcare, helping eliminate superstition and unhealthy practices.

Ka’ Hong Hanh from the Xuan Dien Commune said that thanks to doctors and nurses, local people are now more aware of how to take care of their health. In the past, doctor K’Be revealed, K’ho minority people believed in magician and did not go to the medical station for regular check-ups. Nowadays, in addition to more common maladies, doctors can provide treatment for more serious diseases.

Di Linh was the first district in Lam Dong province to have had doctors like K’Be and Mun Loi who studied and got MA degrees abroad and have set an example for young K’ho minority people to follow. Mun Loi was also one of the first Vietnamese ethnic minority people to receive an IFP scholarship to study MA degree in Thailand.

Doctor K’Son said he hopes that communal medical stations will be equipped with more modern facilities so that doctors like him can provide patients with better treatment.

Judging from tireless efforts by local doctors and nurses, Di Linh has hoped that all its communal healthcare stations will meet national standards by 2010 and that it will be able to export more doctors to neighbouring areas.