Two sailors of sunken ship on southern river still missing

Rescue forces righted the capsized ship on the Soai Rap River near Ho Chi Minh City and Tien Giang province on November 3 but did not found the two missing sailors. 

Efforts to search for Nguyen Huu Quang, 29, from the northern province of Ninh Binh and Phan Anh Tan, 54, from the central province of Ha Tinh still continue, according to the Maritime Search and Rescue Coordination Centre of Region 3. 

The ship, named Hoang Phuc 18, is scheduled to be towed to the Sao Mai – Ben Dinh area of Vung Tau city, the southern province of Ba Ria – Vung Tau, on late November 3 for investigation and repairs. 

On late October 30, the vessel with 17 people aboard sank on the Soai Rap River. Thirteen sailors have been rescued while two others were found dead.

Fire destroys three shops in Ha Noi 

A fire which broke out early today completely destroyed all the goods at three shops in Ha Noi's Thanh Tri District.

Three shopkeepers had rented the first floor of a house at No 40, Tu Hiep Street to launch their business.

The fire started from the milk shop, and spread to two adjacent shops selling shoes and clothes, according to some eyewitnesses.

An eyewitness said that when they saw columns of smoke rising from the milk shop, they tried to telephone the house owner's family who were asleep on the second floor.

Locals woke up the owners by throwing stones at the house to warn them.

Before the firefighters arrived, locals tried to use water from the taps of a neighbouring commercial centre to control the fire.

The city's seven fire trucks and firefighting personnel put out the blaze at 3am, but at about 5am, the fire started again. It was finally extinguished by 7am. The cause of fire is being investigated. 

Whirlwind hits Tien Giang

A whirlwind yesterday hit Tan Phuoc District in the Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta province of Tien Giang, blowing away the roofs of dozens of houses.

The district's People Committee said the whirlwind, accompanied by heavy rain that started on Sunday, completely destroyed 12 houses and damaged nearly 70 others by blowing away their roofs.

One person was seriously injured after he was hit by a tree that fell down.

The district's electricity network was also heavily damaged, causing a short-circuit that lasted a day.

Local residents said the tornado hit them so suddenly and powerfully that they had no time to prepare themselves for it.

Security forces have been mobilised to help the people repair their homes, remove fallen trees and stabilise normal life.

Earlier in October, a tornado hit the same district, destroying 45 houses and causing damage worth more than VND500 million (nearly US$25,000), the local Department of Agriculture and Rural Development said. 

Sunken cargo vessel removed from river

Rescuers yesterday began lifting Vietnamese cargo vessel Hoang Phuc 18, which sank on the Soai Rap River near HCM City on Friday while carrying 17 people and hundreds of tonnes of cargo. Four people were reported dead or missing after the accident.

A Yet Kieu P3 floating crane with lifting capacity of 350 tonnes was used to raise the sunken boat. Other boats including My A with 3,000 horse power and Visal 08 assisted in stabilising the capsized vessel.

To prevent oil spills from Hoang Phuc Vessel, other boats and speedboats were used to install 100 buoys near the lifted vessel.

Preparation tasks were completed yesterday morning as divers tied cables to the vessel, which was later partly lifted out of the water.

The vessel will be examined at a location in Vung Tau City.

Nguyen Dinh Viet, deputy head of Viet Nam Maritime Administration, was at the site steering the lifting task.

Divers said that the two missing people, Phan Anh Tan, 54 from Ha Tinh, and Nguyen Huu Quang, 29, from Ninh Binh, were not found inside the vessel.

The cargo ship departed from Dong Nai's Long Thanh District on Wednesday.

When reaching the Soai Rap estuary, rough seas forced the ship to turn back to marking buoy No 5, where the crew waited for better weather.

On Friday night, when the crew were about to have dinner, a wave hit one side of the vessel, causing it to stagger before capsizing. Two people were found dead and another two are missing.

According to survivors, 11 people of the 16-member crew escaped by scrambling onto a barge behind the vessel. 

Drainage work to bring traffic disruption in southwestern HCM City

Cars and buses will not be allowed to enter sections of 19 roads in southwestern Ho Chi Minh City from November 1 when work on the city's major drainage project is set to begin.

The US$22-million project, including a 10-kilometer sewer system, three pumping stations and a plan to revive the 1.8-kilometer Hang Bang Channel, will continue until early 2019, authorities said. 

The project is hoped to help prevent the whole area from being heavily flooded during rainy season.

Authorities added that they will try to minimize the disruption by closing the roads one after another. 

Barriers will be removed during the Lunar New Year holiday, said officials.

The roads that will be affected include Hung Vuong, Minh Phung, Hau Giang, Binh Tay and Pham Phu Thu in District 6. 

In Districts 5 and 11, barriers will be put up on Binh Thoi, Lac Long Quan, Phu Tho, Han Hai Nguyen, Ton That Hiep, Do Ngoc Thach, Go Cong, Phu Huu, Ta Uyen, Van Tuong, Pho Co Dieu and Tan Khai.

Vietnam's antibiotic resistance rate among the highest in the world

Vietnam has reported an alarming increase of superbugs that are resistant to powerful antibiotics and some of them are able to survive all available drugs, doctors said.

Nguyen Vu Trung, deputy director of the Central Tropical Diseases Hospital, said at a conference in Hanoi on Thursday that the resistance rate to carbapenems, the strongest group of antibiotics, has risen to 50 percent, mostly from gram-negative bacteria which have an impenetrable cell wall.

Do Thuy Nga from an Oxford study said Vietnam now ranks second out of 26 countries reporting data of carbapenem-resistant E.coli, after India. 

Resistance to third-generation cephalosporins, another powerful group of drugs, has surged to more than 60 percent in the country.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has listed Vietnam among countries with the highest antibiotic-resistant infections.

Vietnam is also hit by several gram-negative gastrointestinal bacteria that resist all kinds of antibiotics in use. Doctors said the killer bugs are showing up faster than the introduction of new antibiotics. No new drugs have been launched since 2008.

They said with the new drugs not coming any time soon, the public should protect themselves by using antibiotics with caution and only under prescriptions. 

Trung said the “improper” use of antibiotics is happening in both developing and developed countries, like the US.

Nga also suggested governments ban the use of antibiotics in animal feeds and limit the use of antibiotics for pets.

Vietnam’s animal farming industry is using around 11 groups of antibiotics, some of which are for human treatment.

Faster economic growth results in better employment statistics

Accelerated economic growth is helping the labour market, the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs (MoLISA) said.

The gross domestic product expanded by 6.1, 6.4 and 6.8% in the first, second and third quarters of 2015, respectively, MoLISA said. It was expected to reach 6.9% in the last three months and exceed 6.5% for the year. 

The number of employed people is expected to stand at 52.9 million in Q3, up 0.81% from the previous quarter, and 53.1 million in Q4, up 0.34% quarterly. 

Between July and September, Vietnam posted a 54.31-million-strong workforce, making up 76.01% of all citizens aged 15 years old and above. The figure is estimated at 54.43 million for Q4, or 76.11%, while the unemployment rate is expected to drop slightly to 2.38%. 

The ministry said job vacancies in businesses in 2015 were predicted to grow by 360,000, or 3.27% over last year, bringing the number of people working in the sector to 12.32 million. 

Official data showed that 52.53 million people were employed in Q2, a 103,000 increase over the previous three months. 

The processing and manufacturing industry recorded the fastest-growing number of labourers (up by 223,000) from April to June, followed by information and communications (178,000), construction (113,000), and trade and repairs (77,000). 

Meanwhile, the biggest employment decreases were seen in education-training (181,000); agro-forestry-fisheries (114,000); and jobs related to Party activities, socio-political organisations and security-defence (98,000). 

MoLISA Deputy Minister Doan Mau Diep highlighted an employment pressure decrease in Q2 thanks to continued economic turnover. 

He also pointed out Vietnamese labourers’ limited capacity, which would be a big challenge when workers in eight professions became able to move freely within ASEAN after the ASEAN Community was set up on December 31 this year. 

He suggested drastic moves be taken to improve human resource quality, enhance workers’ access to job information and assure businesses have a thorough grasp of the labour structure so they can take appropriate action. All of these things were necessary for the formation of the ASEAN Community, he said.

Vietnam ranks 56th in global peace index

Vietnam has been ranked 56th among 162 countries in the Global Peace Index (GPI) 2015, according to the Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP), an Australia-based global non-profit research organization.

Findings were based on 23 criteria ranging from level of violence and military expenditure to ties between neighbours and respect for human rights. 

Iceland topped the list, followed by Denmark and Austria.

Meanwhile, Syria came in as the world most dangerous country.

The GPI, created in 2007, is the world's leading measure of national peacefulness.

VTV to reduce investment in pay TV market, focus on content: report

The national broadcaster Vietnam Television will disinvest from the pay TV market by selling most of its stakes in three major providers, whose combined market share is almost 73%, local media reported.

VTV will sell 49% stake in VTVcab, which boasts two million subscribers mainly in the northern region, Hoang Ngoc Huan, CEO of VTVcab, was quoted in a Tuoi Tre report as saying.

The broadcaster will sell most of its shares in SCTV, which it owns 50%. A joint-venture between VTV and Saigontourist, SCTV now has more than 2.3 million subscribers. 

It will also partially withdraw its investment in K+, where it has the controlling power with a 51 percent stake.

Founded in 2009 in partnership with France's Canal+ Group, the satellite TV provider with a strong offering of sports content boasts 800,000 subscribers. 

Nguyen Thanh Luong, deputy CEO of VTV, said the national broadcaster will continue to focus on content production after the sales, which are slated to be completed next year.

All the proceeds will be submitted to the government investment arm SCIC, Luong said.

Hanoi promotes high-tech application in health care

Hanoi’s health sector has focused on developing high-quality medical techniques over the last five years and made significant progress.

The sector received technology from central-level and international hospitals to use in its own hospitals.

Saint Paul, a leading hospital in the city, has earmarked a substantial amount of funding for modern equipment and the application of advanced technologies in diagnosis and treatment. The funding will focus on thoracic endoscopic surgery, treatment of digestive and urologic diseases, brain tumor surgery using neuronavigation and analgesic treatments for cancer patients.

In 2013, the hospital became the 13th in the country and the first in the city to successfully transplant a kidney.

To prepare for its first kidney transplants, the hospital sent a total of 100 doctors to Bach Mai Hospital, the Vietnam-Germany Hospital, Military Hospital 103 and the France-based Limoges University to learn about the technique. It has performed eight successful kidney transplants so far.

The hospital is now working to develop other transplant techniques with its aim of being able to transplant livers and stem cells by 2016.

According to Municipal Department of Health Director Nguyen Khac Hien, the kidney transplant success has opened up opportunities for not just people living with kidney-related diseases , but also for those with other types of illnesses.

He said this was a crucial turning point in the hospital’s development process, increasing its prestige and helping the city achieve its 2015 transplant goal.

According to the Hanoi Department of Health, apart from Saint Paul Hospital, many local medical establishments have applied new technologies and provided high-quality services on par with central-level hospitals and those across Southeast Asia.

Aside from surgical techniques used in Saint Paul Hospital, a number of complicated procedures have been completed at the Hanoi Heart Hospital, the Hanoi Oncology Hospital, and the Hanoi Obstetrics and Gynecology Hospital.

The city’s medical department also helped Laos’ Xiang Khouang province build a cardiovascular centre with technical assistance and equipment provided by the Hanoi Heart Hospital.

The development of high-quality diagnosis and treatment techniques and services help meet increasing demand of local residents and those from neighboring localities.

Municipal People’s Committee Chairman Nguyen The Thao urged the sector to continue applying more advanced technologies in preventive health, diagnosis and treatment to improve the quality of public health care.

He also called for the development of specialized hospitals and medical centres with synchronous and modern infrastructure and equipment, and high-quality services.

Binh Dinh fishermen use Japan technology

Tuna fishermen in the central coastal province of Binh Dinh received the latest Japanese fishing equipment and technology at a ceremony on Saturday in the presence of Tuna fishermen in the central coastal province of Binh Dinh received the latest Japanese fishing equipment and technology at a ceremony on Saturday in the presence of President Truong Tan Sang.

Speaking at the event, Kato Hitoshi, President of the Japan-Viet Nam Friendship Association in Sakai city, said the handover forms part of a project to supply cutting-edge fishing equipment and technology to tuna fishermen in Binh Dinh, helping raise product quality and productivity.

He recalled that following President Sang's visit to Japan in March last year, the association dispatched its experts to study the situation and assist the first five local households to apply Japan's tuna fishing and preservation methods.

In August 2014, the first batch of tuna caught and preserved by state-of-the-art technology was shipped to Japan and was well received by local consumers, Kato added.

President Sang witnessed the signing of a memorandum of understanding between Kagoshima University of Japan and Binh Dinh province in studying seafood.

Vietnamese tuna products are exported to 100 countries and territories, including the US, Japan, Israel and Canada, as well as the EU and the ASEAN region.

Viet Nam's tuna exports have rapidly increased in recent years, and the country still holds potential for more growth in this area, according to industry insiders.

Tuna exports have been the third biggest earner in Viet Nam's seafood industry with a value of US$400 million in 2014, behind only tra fish and shrimp. 

Training classes lacking students

As of August, only 15,000 of the 330,000 people eligible for unemployment allowances had enrolled in vocational training programmes, according to the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs.

The unemployed will receive a maximum monthly vocational training allowance of 1 million VND (nearly 45 USD) per person for six months total. The specific allowance levels depend on job types, tuition fees and the course duration as regulated by the Employment Law.

Support for the unemployed has not produced expected results because the number of individuals enrolled in vocational training programmes remains modest.

"Recently, the centres have received an average of 3,000 people registering as unemployed per week," said Vu Quang Thanh, Director of the Hanoi Employment Service Centre. "However, of those, only 100 people per week are enrolling in vocational training courses, accounting for about three percent."

He added that the number of people who registered for vocational training courses in recent years accounted for between two and three percent of the unemployed population, but on occasion it peaked at six percent.

Tran Xuan Hai, Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Employment Service Centre, said the vocational training courses have been underutilised.

"Over the past nine months, as many as 62,000 have received unemployment allowances, and of those, only 600 people have taken vocational training courses, accounting for less than one percent," Hai said.

Between 80 and 90 percent of people registering for unemployment allowances were unskilled workers. They faced numerous financial difficulties when they were laid off, so they hesitated to spend money on vocational training, Hai said.

"The centre has stepped up efforts to help the unemployed access information about various vocational training courses, but it has produced few results," Hai said.

Vocational training plays an important role in improving labourers' skills, especially when most of the unemployed are unskilled workers. However, vocational training policies for the unemployed still have limitations. For example, vocational training allowances for the unemployed only last six months, which is a short time to learn new skills or jobs, experts warned.

Le Thuy Mai is an unemployed citizen from Binh Dinh who registered for unemployed allowances at the Ho Chi Minh City Employment Service Centre but did not enroll in a job training course.

"I think that six months are not enough to learn new jobs," Mai said. "Moreover, there is no guarantee that I will be hired after finishing a job training course."

Bich Huyen from Hai Duong, who used to work as an accountant, said she could not afford to take courses on new accounting models because the tuition fees are much higher than the unemployment allowances she received.

Tran Xuan Hai, Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Employment Service Centre, said it is necessary to foster closer co-ordination between vocational training schools and enterprises so that trainees will have a better chance of finding jobs after finishing training courses.

Nguyen Toan, former director of HCM City-based Thu Duc College, said relevant authorised agencies should provide labour demand forecasts, as well as job consultancy, to help the unemployed find suitable jobs.

"More financial support should be provided to the unemployed because they meet many difficulties after being laid off, and the tuition fees are much higher than the unemployed allowances," Toan said. "In addition, vocational training schools should provide the unemployed with soft skill training courses."

Rural road development still below expectations

Vietnam’s road infrastructure in rural areas has improved five years after a new rural-area-building programme started, but it has still failed to meet demand for social-economic development. 

According to Deputy Minister of Transport Nguyen Nhat, the country has upgraded 47,436 kilometres of rural road, meeting Ministry of Transport (MoT) standards. It also built 61,400 kilometres of new road in hamlets and constructed 15,474 new bridges. 

Of the 186.2 trillion VND spent on rural road infrastructure during the period, social resources contributed 4.7 trillion and local residents contributed 27 trillion. The rest came from the State budget. 

The MoT implemented official development assistance (ODA) projects worth nearly 5 trillion VND to upgrade and maintain rural road infrastructure. 

In many provinces, however, it is still difficult to find enough financial resources to construct more roads because of the difficult terrain and uneven population distribution. 

The MoT recommended some solutions to mobilise capital for rural infrastructure in the future, requesting provinces and cities create middle-term investment plans for 2016-2020. It would also study the application of private-public partnerships and the build-operate-transfer model.

Binh Duong province, Daejeon city solidify collaboration

Vietnam’s southern province of Binh Duong and the Republic of Korea (RoK)’s Daejeon city have inked a cooperation agreement for the next five years with a focus on economics, healthcare and education. 

The deal was reached at a working session in Binh Duong on November 2. 

During the function, the two sides’ officials agreed that bilateral investment, economic and trade cooperation over the last decade has been carried out in line with the investment cooperation programme signed by the Vietnamese and RoK governments. 

Binh Duong – Daejeon connections have also been supported by their countries’ central and local authorities, they said. 

On the occasion, the Deajeon delegation visited the Binh Duong provincial People’s Council, Mien Dong (Eastern) International University and the Becamex-IDC Corporation as well as participated in a seminar on medical tourism. 

The delegation’s working visit was held on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of cooperation between the two sides. 

Since 2005, Binh Duong and Daejeon have exchanged 12 delegations at all levels. The RoK had run 528 projects worth over 2 billion USD in the Vietnamese province by October this year, ranking second in project number and third in registered capital among 41 countries and territories investing in Binh Duong. 

The two sides have also organised a number of exchanges between their students. RoK companies based in Binh Duong have granted nearly 700 scholarships to local disadvantaged students. Meanwhile, doctors from the Northeast Asian nation have offered more than 450 surgeries for children with cleft lips and palates in the province.

Big aid package approved to counter drought, saline intrusion

The Prime Minister has approved 284.5 billion VND (12.7 million USD) in aid to help 19 provinces across the country address the consequences of droughts and saline intrusion since early this year.

The localities have suffered severe damages from droughts and saline intrusion to their 2014-2015 Winter-Spring crops and the Summer-Fall crops this year.

Among the aid recipients there are nine central provinces, namely Thanh Hoa, Nghe An, Ha Tinh, Quang Binh, Quang Nam, Quang Ngai, Binh Dinh, Khanh Hoa and Binh Thuan.

Other targeted localities are the northern mountainous province of Lai Chau, the northern province of Bac Ninh; the Central Highlands province of Lam Dong; and the southern provinces of Binh Phuoc, Ben Tre, Ca Mau, Tra Vinh, Vinh Long, Hau Giang and Tien Giang.

The Ministry of Finance is responsible for the accuracy of reports on the use of the aid.

The People’s Committees of the targeted localities are to mobilise other resources in a bid to ensure effective implementation of the work.

Khanh Hoa province is instructed to make detailed plans on the varieties and amount of seedling trees needed to submit to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

Drought, water shortages and salt intrusion caused by El Nino have affected the central, Central Highlands and southern regions since late 2014.

According to Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Hoang Van Thang, the water shortage has seriously affected 122,000 ha of agricultural land so far this year, while causing difficulties to local people in their daily life as well.

47 pct of Cambodian students in Vietnam pursue medicine, pharmacy

Nearly half of Cambodian students have pursued a college or university degree in Vietnam, followed by 11 percent and 10.8 percent in agriculture and economics, respectively.

The numbers were announced at a workshop held by the Ministry of Education and Training (MET) in the southern province of Tra Vinh on October 30. Participants reviewed Vietnam and Cambodia’s cooperation in education and training from 2011 to 2015.

There are about 3,000 Cambodian students currently studying in Vietnam, 600 of whom received scholarships. Around 20 to 25 percent are in postgraduate programmes.

According to the MET’s International Cooperation Department, Vietnam’s Government has provided nearly 1,050 scholarships in both short-term and long-term courses for Cambodians this year with a focus on economics, culture, science, technology, defence and security.

Every year, Cambodia offers Vietnamese officials and students 15 university scholarships and 20 others in two-year Khmer language courses.

Cambodia is now home to 200 Vietnamese students, including self-funded ones.

The two governments have worked closely with their educational institutes and foreign affairs agencies to support students after the countries inked a protocol on education cooperation five years ago.

The MET plans to ramp up Vietnamese language courses for Cambodian university students, particularly in technology, medicine and pharmacy.

UK expert gives advice on infrastructure development

"Value for money" is always the touchstone for national infrastructure development, a British expert told a workshop that opened in HCM City yesterday.

James Ballingall, head of International, Infrastructure UK, said this did not necessarily mean building new infrastructure, with the first principle being to consider whether the country had used existing infrastructure effectively.

There was a three-fold approach to infrastructure: maintaining good performance through planned maintenance and smarter use of assets, addressing weaknesses through targeted action to tackle network stress points and develop networks, and transformational large-scale capital projects.

A national infrastructure plan (NIP) was needed to develop infrastructure in a country, and it was not only a planning tool but also a strategic, marketing and delivery tool.

The plan would ensure the right projects were prioritised and optimise allocation of taxpayer money, investment and donor support.

It also would facilitate a long-term strategic approach and provide a focus for the domestic market and investors and for tracking project delivery and accountability.

The function of an NIP could evolve over time.

"In the early days, the emphasis is on strategic planning and prioritisation. Then there may be greater emphasis on publishing specific projects and programmes for the benefit of contractors, lenders, and governments."

The emphasis was then placed on how the projects on the list were financed and the plan as a monitoring and delivery tool.

Finally, it could be used retrospectively as an audit tool.

Developing infrastructure would help economic growth; boost productivity, competitiveness, collaboration, and innovation; enable investment; deepen labour and product markets; and develop new housing and business.

The NIP was not just a collection of departmental projects, but a coherent strategy for development of a country's infrastructure frameworks over the medium to long terms.

Very few countries had such a plan, which made it hard to reconcile with the short-term political cycle.

The two-day workshop, titled "Engaging the private sector in infrastructure development," is being organised by the British consulate and Infrastructure UK.

Senior leaders and officials from HCM City, Ha Noi, and Quang Ninh are attending it. 

5,000 cervical cancer cases detected

Cervical cancer is one of the leading causes of death among women in Viet Nam, with more than 5,000 new cases reported nationwide every year.

More than 100 types of the human papillomavirus (HPV) exist, of which 14 have a high risk of causing cancer, according to Le Van Hien, general secretary of the HCM City Obstetrics-Gynecology Association.

HPV16 and HPV18 genotypes are the causes of at least 70 per cent of cervical cancer cases, Hien said at a workshop held last Saturday in HCM City.

More than 500 women attended the workshop, organised by the Viet Nam Woman's Union and Medical Diagnosis Centre. It aimed to raise awareness about cervical cancer and the importance of HPV testing for screening.

Can Tho city floats water transport safety project

The Mekong Delta city of Can Tho is implementing measures to ensure the safety of waterway transport.

Can Tho City shares a border with five provinces including An Giang in the north, Hau Giang in the south, Kien Giang in the west, Dong Thap and Vinh Long provinces in the east.

As the transportation hub of the Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta, raising awareness of safety issues plays an important role in maintaining waterway transportation safety, especially during the rainy season.

The Traffic Safety Committee of Can Tho City has collaborated with relevant authorities to provide more than 1,000 pairs of lifejackets for primary schools' disadvantaged students who go to school by boat.

Nearly 1,000 items of safety equipment have been presented to vehicle owners.

Training courses have also been organised to provide information on waterway transportation for locals.

Huynh Van Thom, owner of a dock at Phong Dien District's Nhon Nghia Commune said awareness of these issues was on the rise, creating a positive change in the observance of law and contributing to safe transportation.

"Under the guidance of local authorities as well as the traffic safety committee, people have been made aware that they have to wear a life jacket while travelling on boats," Thom said.

Nguyen Van Ut, who resides in Can Tho City's Ninh Kieu District, said many docks in the city, including Ninh Kieu Dock, had been upgraded.

Huynh Van Huong from Can Tho City's Waterway Police Department said the department was working with relevant authorities to facilitate transportation. In addition, transportation for tourists by boat on Ninh Kieu Dock as well as sand exploitation on Hau River will be rearranged.

The Waterway Police force will intensify inspection and handle violations, Huong said.

He also said they would concentrate on raising awareness of vehicle owners and passengers so they could know the regulations on waterway transport safety.

With a dense network of rivers and canals, the Mekong Delta is an area with a high risk of waterway accidents compared with other regions.

According to the national Traffic Safety Committee, Viet Nam now has more than 2,400 docks with more than 6,000 vehicles using them per day.

The Mekong Delta alone has more than 1,500 docks where more than 3,000 vehicles travel daily, accounting for 61 per cent of docks and vehicles in the country. 

Khanh Hoa to build new administrative centre

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has agreed to establish an administrative urban centre under the People's Committee of the central coastal Khanh Hoa Province.

Châu Ngo Anh Nhân, director of Khanh Hoa Province development project's management board said today that the whole project will cover 126ha in Vinh Phuoc Commune, of Nha Trang City, of which 37ha comprises the new administrative centre.

The rest of the acreage will be used for commercial housing areas and office buildings.

The total investment for the project is about VND4.3 trillion (US$195.4 million). Of that, the administrative urban centre will cost VND3 trillion.

The centre's design originated from the image of chim yen (Apodidae) bird's nest. The administrative building is designed with a dome architecture, and the surrounding areas are covered with trees and paths.

"It is one of green architecture-designed works that help reduce heat and promote energy efficiency inside buildings," the director said.

The centre will be in charge of giving instructions for administrative procedures and receiving documents of individuals and organisations.

Cultural-exchange activities, festivals and anniversaries will be taken place at the centre.

Behind the main dome-architecture building is a bird's nest-designed square which is expected to be an attractive outdoor tourism site for both domestic and foreign visitors.

Surrounding the square is a museum, cinemas, and an amusement park for children and youngsters.

Foster homes in need of legal framework

Foster families may offer significantly improved living standards and comfort to orphans, with some financial assistance from the State, compared to social support centres, according to childcare experts.

While the majority of these children were often cared for by their relatives, a large number of children still ended up being sent to social support centres, which cannot offer a family atmosphere and are very expensive to maintain.

Nguyen Trong An, deputy head of the Research and Training Centre for Community Development (RTCCD), said hundreds of billions of dong were required every year to maintain these social support centres.

At the same time, many childless families, who were both willing and capable of assisting these children, were still not allowed to do so, under current regulations.

In light of the upcoming National Assembly discussion of the revised law on the protection, care and education of children, experts voiced their support for the establishment of a foster home system, which may receive financial assistance from the State's budget.

"There have been cases in which the money was reportedly stolen before it could reach the needy children at those centres," An said. "Directly providing money to the foster homes could be a solution."

An said there were working models around the world, such as the Russian city of Saint Petersburg, which started providing foster care in 2009 to children whose parents, for numerous reasons, were unable to take care of them.

Ideally, the children should be assigned to relatives. When this is not possible, non-related caregivers may be chosen, or the children may be adopted by other families. Only in extreme cases, where none of these options are applicable, should a child be sent to a social centre.

The revised law on the protection, care and education of children was expected to provide a legal framework for a community-based foster care system that aimed to provide unfortunate children with a family environment while they are growing up.

Ben Tre to plant submerged forests

The Ben Tre Province People's Committee has approved a project to prevent erosion, planting 50ha of submerged forests to protect the Thua Duc Sea Dyke in Binh Dai District.

Transport infrastructure and irrigation works will be built next year.

The project, funded with the province's State budget and Viet Nam's Support Programme to Respond to Climate Change (SP-RCC), costs about VND43 billion (US$1.9 million).

Sea water intrusion, sea sand intrusion and erosion damaged about 42ha of forest in Binh Dai District in the 2011-2014 period, according to local officials.

Phan Anh Dung, head of the Ben Tre Protection Forests and special-use Forest Management Committee's Binh Dai Protection Division, said sea water intrusion had eroded 1.3 ha of forests planted outside the sea dyke in Thua Duc Commune from 2009 to 2013.

Phan Thi Thanh Hang of Binh Dai's Thanh Phuoc Commune said her mother had leased 10 submerged forests in Thua Duc's Thua Tien Hamlet to breed shrimp and crabs.

However, every year, sea water intrusion has eroded about 1ha of forest a year. The leased land now covers about 3ha.

Binh Dai has more than 1,080ha of forests, including production and protection forests, in Thua Duc, Thoi Thuan, Binh Thang and Thanh Phuoc communes.

The southern bank of the Cua Dai Estuary in Thua Duc Commune has eroded.

In the last four years, erosion has occurred along five kilometres in the coastal areas in Thua Duc's Thua Tien, Thua Loi and Thua Trung hamlets.

More than 22ha of land in the coastal areas has eroded, affecting nearly 100 families. 

Phu Yen launches anti-smoking campaign 

The southern Phu Yen Province launched an anti-smoking campaign in Tuy Hoa City this morning.

The event was organised by the provincial People's Committee in co-ordination with the Fund for Tobacco Harm Prevention of the Health Ministry, the provincial Youth Association and Health Department.

At the ceremony held to launch the campaign, Dr Dang Phuc Liem, a representative of the fund, said all officers, employees and people should join hands to create a smoke-free environment in the province. 

He said the province should strengthen communication activities to raise awareness of officers, employees, students and residents about the harmful effects of tobacco and the benefits of a smoke-free environment.

The representatives of various units later signed a commitment to work for a smoke-free environment in their units. More than 200 youth members and young people marched through the main streets of the city to make people aware of the dangers of tobacco.

Statistics from the health ministry show that there are 33 million non-smokers in the country, who are exposed to tobacco smoke at home, with two-thirds of them being women and children. 

Five million people suffer from exposure to tobacco smoke in offices.

Viet Nam is among 15 countries that have the highest smoking rates in the world.

HIV/AIDS patients reluctant to buy health insurance, fear discrimination

Health insurance has become critically important for HIV/AIDS patients as free anti-retroviral medicine and testing will no longer be readily available because of reduced international aid.

Because of Viet Nam's classification as a lower middle-income country by the UN, funds from international aids will continue to fall, and eventually, patients with HIV/AIDS will have to pay for treatment.

Nguyen Hoang Long, head of the country's HIV/AIDS Prevention Department, said that health insurance would help reduce the patients' payments.

However, only 30 per cent of patients with HIV/AIDS buy insurance, and in HCM City, the figure is 20-25 per cent, according to the city AIDS Prevention Committee.

As of this year, HCM City has 41,841 people with HIV.

Venerable Thich Dong Nguyen, director of Phap Bao Community Counseling and Support Centre, said that many HIV/AIDS patients who receive counseling at his centre wanted to buy health insurance, but had not done so because of the stigma attached to the disease.

"They're afraid that many people will find out about their disease," he said.

Most patients from other provinces and cities come to HCM City to earn a living, and many of them are casual labourers with an unstable income.

To buy health insurance, they have to have temporary residential registration papers.

Nguyen said that one patient with HIV/AIDS told him that he had to borrow papers from his landlord, who asked why he needed to do so.

The patient told him that he had HIV and needed to buy health insurance, and as a result, the landlord no longer allowed him to live there.

"Discrimination by the community and even patients with HIV/AIDS have created these problems," Nguyen said.

The amended Health Insurance Law on health insurance is also a barrier for HIV/AIDS patients.

The law, which took effect earlier this year, requires that insurance must be bought for all members of a family.

Tran Thi Phung of the Niem Tin community-based organisation (CBO), which provides healthcare and counselling to HIV patients, said that many women and children chose to stay at home or work as casual labourers because of poor health.

"They can't afford to buy health insurance cards for themselves, which cost VND600,000-700,000 ($27-31) each. It's even more difficult to buy for the whole family," she said.

At an HIV outpatient clinic in District 4, of more than 1,200 patients with HIV, only 30 per cent have health insurance cards. Most of them work, but are poor or near-poor.

Nguyen said the Ministry of Health should simplify health-insurance procedures, and allow HIV/AIDS patients to buy insurance at the HIV outpatient clinics.

Dr Tieu Thi Thu Van, head of the city's AIDS Prevention Committee, has asked the central government to streamline the policy and allow HIV/AIDS patients to buy cards on their own.

In June, the Ministry of Health issued a list of medical services paid by the Social Insurance Agency, but the list still does not provide sufficient services to insured HIV/AIDS patients.

In HCM City, for example, 90 per cent of patients with HIV are treated at HIV outpatient clinics at district preventive health centres.

However, the Social Insurance Agency, under the recently amended Health Insurance Law, is not allowed to sign insurance contracts for treatment at these centres as they are not legally covered under the law. Under the law, they can only sign agreements for payments to hospitals.

As a result, insured patients with HIV treated at the centres receive no coverage.

However, district hospitals and general hospitals in HCM City can only provide testing, and do not offer treatment for these patients.

The patients are sent to specialised hospitals, such as Nhan Ai, Chi Hoa, Pham Ngoc Thach, paediatrics hospitals No.1 and 2 and the Tropical Diseases Hospital.

Social welfare centres also provide treatment for them.

Another problem under the amended law is that patients must go to a hospital that is named on their health insurance card.

To solve these discrepancies, insured patients treated at district- or commune-level health facilities will be covered by health insurance in January next year, under regulations of the amended Health Insurance Law.

HCM City plans to expand anti-retroviral (ARV) therapy to general district hospitals and private hospitals between 2016 and 2020.

At that time, the city is considering two options to solve the coverage problem.

One option involves sending patients with HIV/AIDS at district preventive centres to district general hospitals for treatment.

The city would transfer the staff specialising in HIV/AIDS at the centres to hospitals, which offer insurance coverage under the amended Health Insurance Law. Patients' treatment fees would then be paid by the Social Insurance Agency.

The second option would be to classify district preventive health centres as "health centres", which would allow the centres to sign agreements with the national Social Insurance Agency as prescribed by the amended Health Insurance law. Thus, patients with HIV/AIDS could be covered at these centres.

Under the city's proposal, social welfare centres that offer treatment now to HIV patients would be classified as satellite health facilities of district general hospitals. The patients would then qualify for insurance coverage. 

Ministry's IT skill standards expected to improve

The information and technology (IT) skill standards introduced by the Ministry of Information and Communications will help training centres, employers and employees evaluate the competency of IT staff, experts have said.

In May, the ministry issued a decree outlining skill standards for professional staff in the IT sector, which took effect in June. According to the ministry, the country needs about 1 million IT staff by 2020.

The standards relate to the database, network system, system management, information security, software design and development.

According to the ministry, the standards are knowledge and skills that IT staff must master in order to perform tasks.

This is expected to narrow the disparity in quality among training centres and schools, which has caused difficulties for employers during the recruitment process.

The ministry also expects the move to allow certifications granted by domestic and international training centres to be mutually recognised.

Participants at a workshop aimed at speeding along the application process agreed that the standards would help improve IT staff performance, and would in turn allow staff to catch up with their counterparts around the world, Viet Nam Economics Times reported on Tuesday.

Dr. Nguyen Phuong Thai from the University of Technology within Ha Noi National University said the university was applying standards through a Japanese IT association.

He said the university also co-operated with IT companies to help students take tests to earn international IT certificates, which tend to be useful during job applications.

A representative from Posts and Telecommunications Institute of Technology said at the workshop that current training programmes at universities and colleges across the country helped develop IT skills to a degree.

However, lessons to develop the skills were primarily based on specific projects or job requirements, instead of being systematic.

Last month, at Tech Insider Expo 2015 – the biggest IT event of the year in Viet Nam - employers said it was hard to find enough qualified candidates. They said the biggest weakness of Vietnamese IT staff was English-language competency.

Pham Thi Xuan Nguyet, head of CSC Group's Human Resource Department, said many graduates failed to meet employers' requirements because they lacked experience, English language skills and knowledge about their expertise.

Ho Dinh Minh Tam, Nguyet's counterpart in Lazada Vietnam, said there is a gap between what students learned at schools and what employers required.

She said students in many universities still practised with outdated software programmes while the IT world underwent drastic changes.

Truong Gia Binh, president of the Viet Nam Software and IT Service Association, said the IT human resource shortage is not a new problem in Viet Nam, but it has worsened.

"The problem lies not only in the number, but also the quality of IT human resource," he said.

There are about 32,000 IT graduates in Viet Nam each year, but only 9,000 graduates are able to meet employers' requirements, and about 3,000 graduates have acceptable English competency. 

Energy rules for food industry to be outlined

A road map of energy efficiency use for the national food-processing industry in the period of 2016 to 2020 is expected to be built following a project presented yesterday in Ha Noi.

Under the project, food-processing producers would receive technical assistance in energy auditing, compile their own detailed plans to use energy efficiently and receive preferential loans from the project to run their energy-efficiency plans.

The project's presentation was co-organised by the Ministry of Trade and Industry's Department of Energy and the World Bank.

The bank is lending US$200 million to implement the four-year project.

The project came after the food-processing sector's energy use was calculated to account for 19.2 per cent of the total energy consumption in all industries of the country, according to Peter Maagoe Petersen, a representative from Niras – the project's consultant team.

The road map will provide a panorama of current energy use in the national food-processing industry, and then propose solutions to save energy, he said.

Ma Khai Hien, another consultant, said the potential for saving energy in the sector was estimated to be up to 20 per cent.

At present, electricity and coal were the two major fuels used in the national food-processing industry, he said.

And small-and-medium enterprises were discovered to use outdated facilities in processing food and consuming more energy than expected, he said.

A representative from the Viet Nam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers applauded the project and suggested it give technical support to the association's seafood-processing companies for energy efficiency.

The cost of energy often makes up 15 to 20 per cent of production costs in a seafood-processing company, she said.

So reducing costs of energy use also means reducing the production cost, she said. "It's really helpful for raising the companies' competitiveness in both the domestic and international markets," she said.

The representative recommended the project to organise courses to train seafood-processing companies throughout the country on how to use energy efficiently, she added.

Energy efficiency is one of the major tasks of Viet Nam in pursuing the target of green growth. It is set to reduce 5 to 8 per cent of the total energy use in the country during 2012 to 2015 under the National Target Programme on Energy Saving and Efficiency signed by Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung in 2012.

Hanoi's lakes now cleaner

The quality of water in Hanoi’s lakes is on the improve according to the “Hanoi Lakes Report 2015” on a project implemented by the Vietnam Environment Protection Fund and the Center for Environmental and Community Research (CECR).

“Lakes, small ponds, and rivers are invaluable environmental assets of Hanoi,” Ms. Nguyen Ngoc Ly, Director of CECR, said. “Management requires an integrated approach combining conservation and technology and the involvement of businesses, the media, and scientists. We need to have policies to promote more effective participation.”

The report assessed changes to Hanoi’s lakes after five years of research at lakes in Cau Giay, Tay Ho, Ba Dinh, Hoan Kiem, Dong Ha, and Hai Ba Trung districts.

Water quality is generally compared with 2010. Eighty-two per cent of the lakes in the capital are now fully embanked and were rated as clean and quite clean, while 14 per cent were dirty and 4 per cent were very dirty.

The number of lakes in Hanoi fell from 122 to 112 between 2010 and 2015 and the total surface area declined by 72,540 sq m.

More European tourists visit Vietnam after visa waiver: data

The Vietnamese tourist industry is bearing fruit from a visa-free travel policy it granted to five European countries in July, as more people from these markets have subsequently chosen to spend their holidays in Vietnam.

The number of Italian arrivals to the Southeast Asian country in October jumped 22.3 percent from the same period last year, according to the latest data by the General Statistics Office of Vietnam.

Tourist numbers from Germany and Spain also posted strong year-on-year growth of 20.3 percent and 19.1 percent, respectively.

The respective increases from the French and UK markets were 8.2 percent and 8.4 percent, according to the General Statistics Office.

Vietnam began scrapping visa requirements for citizens of these European countries on July 1 in a bid to revitalize its falling tourist arrival numbers, and the move has proven to work.

The visa-free travel policy, valid for one year from effective date, effectively allows German, French, British, Italian, and Spanish visitors a free 15-day visa for each entry.

The visa waiver has enabled Vietnam to lure back more visitors, after its international tourist numbers dropped for13 months in a row from May 2014.

With October seen as the beginning of the high season, Vietnam received 649,000 international tourists in the month, up 16.1 percent from a year earlier, according to the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism.

But the country has yet to have the last laugh as tourist arrivals in the ten-month period were still lower than a year earlier.

More than 6.33 million international visitors have toured the country in the first ten months of this year, down 4.1 percent from the same period in 2014, according to the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism.

Local tour organizers, however, are upbeat about better results in the remaining months of the year, and the visa-free policy for those five European countries is believed to continue to be a lifesaver.

Gender equality to be included in textbooks

The initiative “Gender Equality and Girls’ Education in Vietnam: Empowering girls and women towards a more equal society” was launched in Hanoi on October 28. 

The Ministry of Education and Training (MoET) and UNESCO launched the initiative in the period 2016-2020 aiming to ensure gender equality in curriculum and textbook reforms, train education managers and policymakers, and design new teaching and learning materials. 

To implement the initiative, the Ministry and the international organization together work out a plan for gender equality  designed under the consultation of experts and those who pay attention to the education sector. 

The major purpose of the initiative is to offer opportunities for women and teenager girls, especially those who are disadvantaged and vulnerable to access to high quality education. It also supports coordination between parents and the community to help schools create a favorable environment for students to practice what they have learned. 

In addition, millions of teachers and students of all grades in the country will access to gender knowledge. Schools, families and the community should help them to apply the knowledge in the reality. 

At the launching ceremony, Nguyen Thi Nghia, education deputy minister, asserted that the initiative of gender equality would be top priorities during comprehensive reforms of education and training and the ministry has been pushing up fundamental and comprehensive reforms in education and training.

Online meeting on Quinvaxem vaccine to be held

In the sideline of the National Assembly session on November 2, Health Minister Nguyen Thi Kim Tien said that the ministry will convene an online meeting on Quinvaxem vaccine.

Health Minister Tien said that currently, over 90 countries are using Quinvaxem vaccine. Moreover, imported vaccine can not meet the increased demand and it is difficult to find out the supply.

Before, the Ministry of Health said that scientific council comprising of medical experts from the Ministry, the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology and the National Children Hospital concluded that 5 month old baby girl in the northern province of Hai Duong died of septic shock after Quinvaxem vaccination at the commune’s medical clinic.

The Ministry said that the rate of post-vaccination deaths in the Southeast Asian nation is below the World Health Organization’s warning rate; accordingly, Quinvaxem vaccine would continue to be used in the national immunization program. 

Vietnamese surgeons use Axesse Elekta to remove tumor for cancer patient

For the very first time, surgeons of the Central Hospital Hue in the central province of Thua Thien-Hue used Elekta Axesse to remove tumor measuring 8x6,7 x 6,5cm for a 88 year old man.

88 year old man in Thua Thien –Hue Province has liver cancer. Before, the hospital had a meeting with medical experts in French Maria Curie about the man’s health condition to ask for a consultation for best treatment.

Dr. Pham Nhu Hiep, the hospital’s director said that because the patient is old and his big tumor is lying in the special position that doctors can not use other treatment methods. 

After the consultation meeting, Vietnamese surgeons decided to use Axesse Elekta therapy for the first time in treating liver tumor. 

Elekta Axesse is designed to treat a wide range of targets throughout the body, including cranial lesions and tumors in the spine, lung, prostate, and liver. Elekta Axesse is a well-proven medical linear accelerator for treating specific diseases within the head and body. It offers the latest in stereotactic radiation therapy and is well known for its versatility.

The high degree of accuracy achieved with Elekta Axesse enables fewer treatment sessions, shorter hospital visits and enhanced patient comfort through less physical and mental stress.  e most common indications, or diseases, treated by Elekta Axesse are located in the spine, lung, liver, prostate and brain.

Over 60 medical workers disciplined due to improper behaviors to patients

Through the Ministry of Health’s hot line, management boards of hospitals punished 60 medical workers for their improper behaviors to patients in ten months of 2015, said the Ministry.

In 10 months of the year, the Ministry received 12,197 calls through hot line 1900-9095. Of these calls, nearly 1,700 calls were to reflect dilapidated facilities of hospitals; 1,295 calls reflected doctors’ skills and 695 calls were to complain hospital charges and formalities of treatment with insurance cards.

Over 558 calls were to complain medical workers’ negative behaviors to patients and 200 calls of them talked about corruption.

Based on the calls, the Ministry of Health urged hospital management to handle medical workers with improper behaviors.

Accordingly, since the beginning of the year, the sector has thrown books at 2.095 medical workers who badly behaved patients who called to the hot line to complain. 63 medical workers had to write a letter acknowledging their wrongdoings and 62 other medical workers did not receive bonus for Tet holidays. 

Along with penalties issued to those medical workers, the sector also lauded 80 other medical workers who devoted to their careers and took good care of patients.

Post- vaccination cases in Vietnam fewer than WHO’s warning

Following the baby deaths after Quinvaxem vaccination in the central province of Nghe An and in the northern province of Hai Duong, Dr. Tran Dac Phu, head of the Department of Preventive Medicine, said that the number of post-vaccination cases in Vietnam is fewer than that the World Health Organization’s warning.

Mr. Phu said since the beginning of the year, the country had so far recorded 16 serious post-vaccination incidents after Quinvaxem vaccination including 8 deaths. Yet the scientific council announced most of Quinvaxem post- vaccination deaths were just sheer coincidence and one was anaphylactic shock.

Moreover, the country has 70 babies under the age of one year dying every day without known reason not relating to vaccine; accordingly, deaths after vaccination were coincident with a congenital disease of a baby. Many kids were vaccinated the same vaccine and same lot but only one died.

Noteworthy, the rate of post-vaccination of Quinvaxem vaccine in Vietnam is 4.5 over one million doses while as per manufacturers and WHO’s warning is 20 cases over one million doses. Accordingly, the vaccine will be used in the National Expanded Immunization Program to help prevent disease in children. 

However, Mr. Phu stressed that vaccine was sent for testing and the Ministry of Health is currently considering all causes.

In related news, the Ministry of Health yesterday arrived at conclusion that 5 month old baby Nguyen Ngoc Tuong Vi in the northern province of Hai Duong died of septic shock after Quinvaxem vaccination at the commune’s medical clinic on October 25.

Medical experts from the Ministry, the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology and the National Children Hospital yesterday worked together to assess the injection procedure, vaccine preservation to find out the cause of the baby death. They came to conclusion that septic shock is the cause of the death not relating to vaccine.

Subsequently, the Ministry will continue use the vaccine in the National Expanded Immunization Program.

Vietnamese youth set sail on voyage to 5 countries  

Twenty-nine young students have embarked upon a two-month cultural journey across Southeast Asia and Japan as part of the – Ship for Southeast Asian and Japanese Youth Program (SSEAYP).

The program, now in its 42nd year, is a the unique cultural exchange program sponsored by the Japanese government that unfolds on board the MS Nippon Maru, a Japanese luxury cruise liner. 

The ship makes port calls of the host countries where the delegates are treated to a country-themed program that includes homestays, interaction with local youth leaders, visits to relevant institutions, and entertains courtesy calls to state leaders.

The 29 youths who comprise the Vietnam delegation were chosen through a strict selection process that requires them to be at their best behavior in representing the nation as a goodwill ambassador.

This year, the SSEAYP voyage will take the delegates to five countries – Japan, the Philippines, Myanmar, Malaysia and Vietnam. 

Teacher accused of hitting pupils  

A teacher from Thua Thien-Hue Province is being investigated after many parents complained that she had used corporal punishment on her pupils.

Parents of 12 students in class 2/1 lobbied Thuan Hoa Primary School to ask for explanation about the bruises on their children. The teacher, who has now left the school without notice, allegedly admitted to the parents and school administrators that she had smacked the children on the previous day. 

A pupil said she had been beaten on her buttocks after being forced to lie down on the desk at the front of the class after failing to write fast enough. "Two fifth-grade students held my hands and legs while the teacher used the ruler to hit me 10 times," she said.

Some students said they had been hit 20 times because they had been too slow writing, misspelled words or laughed in class. According to the parents, the children all had marks from being beaten with a ruler on their buttocks and were still in pain when going to bed.

The school assigned another teacher to class 2/1 after parents claimed they would not let their children go to school until the case was investigated.

The Education and Training Department of Huong Tra Commune held a meeting with Thuan Hoa Primary School to discuss solution and punishment on October 29.

Truong Van Doi, head of the department said, "We are verifying the claims and will announce the conclusion and the punishment as soon as possible."

Last captive bear in Quang Ninh rescued

The last captive bear in the northern province of Quang Ninh, ‘Hercules’, was transferred to Vietnam Bear Rescue Centre in Tam Dao, Vinh Phuc province on October 30, putting an end to being held captive in Quang Ninh province.

Over the past six months, the Animals Asia Foundation (AAF) co-ordinated with the Quang Ninh provincial Department of Forest Management and the local authorities to rescue a total of 33 bears, which had been held and bred in households and farms throughout the province.

Eariler, Thua Thien-Hue and Binh Thuan provinces also transferred all bears in residential areas to the bear rescue centres, in order to protect the bears from cruel treatment and being killed for their bile.

This year, the AAF rescued 33 bears in Quang Ninh and 8 other bears in other provinces.

According to Doctor Tuan Bendixsen, representative of the AFF in Vietnam, the AFF planned to terminate holding bears captive in Vietnam in 2020.

VNA/VNS/VOV/SGT/SGGP/TT/TN/Dantri