The Teacher's Hand

Some people you only need to meet once to leave a lasting impression in your memory.

I am an employee at University of Medicine and Pharmacy Hospital Ho Chi Minh City. Ten years of service is not an overly long period compared to the hospital's development history, but it is enough for me to deeply appreciate a name that nearly every staff member and worker here mentions with special respect: People's Teacher, Professor, Doctor, Physician Nguyễn Đình Hối—the person who laid the very first bricks for the University-Hospital model and served as the first Director of University of Medicine and Pharmacy Hospital Ho Chi Minh City.

I had the good fortune of meeting Teacher beginning in 2016.

Back then, age had left its mark on his snow-white hair, and his gait was no longer as swift as during his years of relentless dedication. His health had declined somewhat. Yet what I will forever remember is not the age of an elder statesman, but the handshake.

Teacher's hand was still firm, strong, and warm.

That was not a mere professional courtesy handshake. It exuded the sincerity and decisiveness of someone who had spent a lifetime standing at the lectern, in the operating room, and in leadership positions.

I still clearly remember Teacher's sharp eyes. A gentle yet piercing gaze, as if he were still observing, listening, and thinking about the work of the hospital, the university, and the generations of students to whom he had dedicated his entire life of training.

And then there was the smile.

A benevolent, composed smile that made anyone standing before Teacher feel closer, narrowing the distance between a renowned professor and an ordinary staff member like me.

For our generation, upon joining University of Medicine and Pharmacy Hospital Ho Chi Minh City, many things had become "natural": a modern university hospital, a structured training environment, and a model combining treatment, teaching, and scientific research.

Yet the more I explored the hospital's history and read about Teacher's life, the more I understood that today's realities did not come to be by chance.

They are the result of vision, perseverance, and countless bold decisions made decades ago.

People often mention Professor Nguyễn Đình Hối as a great surgeon, an exemplary educator, and a talented administrator. But to me, Teacher was also a sower of seeds.

Those seeds have grown into a hospital visited by thousands of patients daily, an institution training thousands of students and trainees, and a nurturing ground for generations of maturing physicians.

Then the COVID-19 pandemic struck.

That was a harsh period for the entire country and especially for the medical sector.

Ever since that phase, Teacher's health visibly declined.

Advanced age, illness, and the trials of time gradually took away the vigor of the teacher we have always revered.

In recent years, every time we caught a glimpse of Teacher, everyone sensed how he grew weaker with the passing years.

Yet what never changed was the deep affection and reverence held by the collective of the University of Medicine and Pharmacy and University of Medicine and Pharmacy Hospital Ho Chi Minh City toward Teacher.

Then on the morning of June 29, 2026, sad news arrived.

Teacher passed away into eternity at the age of 92.

I stood in silence.

Even knowing that birth, aging, sickness, and death are the laws of life, when a great tree falls, the void left behind is immense.

Not only did his family lose a respected husband, father, and grandfather.

Not only did his students lose a teacher.

Both University of Medicine and Pharmacy Ho Chi Minh City and University of Medicine and Pharmacy Hospital Ho Chi Minh City lost someone who devoted nearly his entire life to building the foundations of today.

Through ten years of service, I did not have many opportunities to be close to Teacher.

Nor was I a direct student of his.

Yet sometimes, the memory of a person does not lie in the number of meetings.

It lies in a glance.

A smile.

A handshake.

To this day, what I remember most is that strong hand.

A hand that once held surgical scalpels to save lives.

A hand that once penned textbooks and trained generations of doctors.

A hand that once signed decisions laying the foundation for University of Medicine and Pharmacy Hospital Ho Chi Minh City.

And also a hand that imparted to me, in the very brief moment of 2016, the sense of kindness, composure, and responsibility embodied by a great master.

Some people live by their lifespan.

Some people live through their works.

Some people live in the memories of those who stay behind.

Teacher Nguyễn Đình Hối perhaps embodies all three.

Teacher successfully completed a deeply meaningful 92-year journey. What Teacher leaves behind is not merely buildings, operating rooms, or lofty titles, but an ethos of practice: placing the patient at the center, resting upon knowledge as a foundation, and anchoring oneself in medical ethics as the core root.

We bow our heads in solemn farewell to Teacher.

May Teacher rest in peace.

And may every official, staff member, and worker of University of Medicine and Pharmacy Ho Chi Minh City and University of Medicine and Pharmacy Hospital Ho Chi Minh City continue to safeguard and nurture the values that Teacher spent his lifetime building.

Farewell, Teacher – People's Teacher, Professor, Doctor, Physician Nguyễn Đình Hối.

Master Nguyễn Quang Duy – Head of the Legal and Internal Audit Unit, Personnel Organization Department

Saigon, June 29, 2026