The dossier about Hai Thuong Lan Ong to honor him as the world’s great physician will soon be ready and submitted to UNESCO, according to the People's Committee of the central province of Ha Tinh.

The portrait of Vietnamese Great Physician Hai Thuong Lan Ong Le Huu Trac. File photo

It is aimed at celebrating the 300th birthday of the great physician who made enormous contributions to Vietnamese medicine, literature and culture.

Le Huu Trac or alias Hai Thuong Lan Ong was an 18th-century Vietnamese physician who was the best known and most celebrated doctor in Vietnamese history.

The Great Physician is considered the most influential figure in the history of traditional Vietnamese medicine and the first champion of an integrative traditional medicine combining Northern and Southern herbal knowledge.

Over the course of his 40-year career, Hai Thuong Lan Ong unceasingly studied and practiced medicine. He is credited with discovering an additional 305 medicinal herbs and more than 2,850 remedies.

He was the author of a voluminous work on traditional medicine known as “Hai Thuong y tong tam linh”, the encyclopedia of Vietnamese Traditional Medicine. This encyclopedia, which has 22 chapters making up 66 volumes, has become a classic in the field, providing a valuable source of knowledge for later generations of herb doctors.

The Lan Ong Street in Hoan Kiem District, Hanoi. Photo: Nguyen Huu Viem

The Vietnamese Great Physician and his great contribution to the development of traditional medicine are deserved to be honored, according to Vietnamese researchers who expressed hope that  Hai Thuong Lan Ong will be soon recognized as a new celebrity of the world by UNESCO in the coming time.

A complex of Hai Thuong Lan Ong’s gravesite and his memorial house has become a tourist attraction in Huong Son district, Ha Tinh province nowadays.

Meanwhile, Lan Ong Street is one of the famous streets in Hanoi’s Old Quarter area. The street specializes in selling traditional remedies where people can find all kinds of herbs and medicine here. Just by standing on the street, they can inhale the typical smell of herbs in the air.

The street is 180m long, from Hang Duong - Hang Ngang intersection to Thuoc Bac Street, crossing Cha Ca - Hang Can intersection. In the past, it belonged to Hau Dong hamlet, Hau Tuc precinct, Tho Xuong district. It is now in Hang Bo Ward, Hoan Kiem District, Hanoi.