Bach Mai Hospital to remain open during Tet

The Ha Noi-based Bach Mai Hospital, one of the central hospitals in the country, will for the first time operate as usual during Tet (Lunar New Year) Festival.

PhD Duong Duc Hung, head of the hospital's general affairs and planning department, has said that the hospital will operate four consulting rooms to receive patients during the nine-day Tet holiday.

In the renal department, all health staff will work as usual to ensure that none of terminally-ill patients suffer body swelling due to a long wait for treatment or shortage of drugs.

The hospital will also open one more emergency room, mobilise four health staff teams and arrange ten more beds. Doctors and nurses will be on duty round-the-clock on these days, Hung said.

Patients who wish to be discharged from the hospital will be served as usual. The hospital's board of managers will have a hotline number 096 985 1616 to receive and resolve any complaints about the service quality and staff attitude, he added.

In the previous years, the shortage of health staff, due to the absence of those away on Tet holiday, had caused an overload of patients who were being transferred from hospitals in other localities or were admitted in the emergency department.

Food-safety violators will be fined, publicly outed

Supermarket and residential market food safety inspection results will be open to the public in 2015, Deputy Minister of Health Nguyen Thanh Long said on Wednesday.

The names of food providers that violated food safety regulations and those that adhered to them would be made public to ensure customers' right to access to safe food, Long said.

In another effort to make food safer in 2015, the Ministry of Health planned a pilot programme, under which ward and commune inspection teams would be placed in Ha Noi and HCM City to examine food suppliers and deal with regulation violators.

"Those sub-district inspection teams will be granted the ability to impose direct fines on the violators," Long said. "This is a radical idea we are rushing to implement as soon as possible."

Sub-district inspectors would supplement inspection teams already in place at the national level, in the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Industry and Trade.

Last year, more than 600 teams from the Ha Noi Department of Health collected VND3 billion (US$142,800) in fines during inspections of markets, shops and supermarket chains, said Department Deputy Director Hoang Duc Hanh.

The Ha Noi Department of Industry and Trade said it detected and handled 246 violations last year. It destroyed goods worth about VND1 billion ($47,600) and imposed fines of VND1.5 billion ($71,400).

Deputy Minister of Health Nguyen Thanh Long said 2015 had been named the Year of Food Safety to raise awareness about the need to control food product quality.

Related ministries would focus on reducing antibiotic and pesticide use in meat and vegetables sold in Ha Noi and HCM City, according to Nguyen Nhu Tiep, head of the agro-aqua-forestry Quality Assurance Department under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

Measles vaccines aim to ward off outbreaks

Minister of Health Nguyen Thi Kim Tien urged officials yesterday to set up temporary sites to offer measles vaccines to children in mountainous and rural areas and to areas with a low rate of vaccination.

Speaking at a workshop on food safety and disease prevention, Tien said measles outbreaks could occur again in the country if preventive measures were ignored.

In January, 28 children in 13 provinces and cities contracted measles, according to a report from the Ministry of Health's Preventive Health Department.

The affected provinces included Bac Ninh, Phu Tho, Hai Duong, Hung Yen, and Ha Nam. HCM City and Ha Noi also saw new cases.

Tien said that last year 5,607 patients in the country tested positive for measles. The outbreak occurred because many children had not been vaccinated.

Measles is a highly contagious virus that lives in the nose and throat mucus of an infected person. It can be spread through coughing and squeezing, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In areas with a low rate of vaccination and in mountainous and rural areas, health officials plan to increase the number of days vaccines will be offered.

More mobile sites will open in areas where parents can bring their children to get the vaccines.

Tien told health officials in provinces and cities to carry out more campaigns on measles vaccines for children aged nine months to one year.

Since last October, a campaign on the combined vaccine against measles and Rubella for children aged one to 14 has been carried out throughout the country.

As of this month, 18.3 million children have received the vaccine, according to Deputy Minister of Health Nguyen Thanh Long.

Information dissemination about the vaccine should also be expanded to parents, Long added.

"Parents need to recognise that vaccinations for children show their responsibility and love," Tien said, adding that "parents should trust the quality of measles vaccines provided in the National Expanded Programme on Immunization".

Apart from measles, Tien also instructed health officials in the country to focus on prevention of respiratory diseases, seasonal influenza and avian flu H5N1 during the Tet holiday.

Luong Ngoc Khue, head of the Treatment and Examination Department, told health facilities to ensure the storage of medicine and other medical materials for emergency aid and treatment in order to reduce fatalities during Tet.

More health staff will also be available during the holiday for emergency aid in case of serious traffic accidents, food poisoning, fires and natural disasters, Khue said.

Nguyen Thanh Phong, head of Administration for Food Safety and Hygiene, said that six teams of inspectors would visit 12 provinces and cities to check whether food items at shops and markets follow safety and hygiene rules.

Inspection results will be published on the administration's website and in media outlets.

Seeds given to provinces hard hit by drought, storms

The Prime Minister has instructed the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to allocate 1,400 tonnes of rice seeds, 267 tonnes of corn seeds and 13.7 tonnes of vegetable seeds to five provinces severely affected by droughts and storms last year.

Under Decision No 182/QD-TTg issued on February 3, 2015, Lang Son will receive 200 tonnes of rice seeds, 100 tonnes of corn seeds and three tonnes of vegetable seeds; Quang Tri will get 100 tonnes, 70 tonnes and 8 tonnes of the seeds, respectively); Phu Yen- 600 tonnes, 55 tonnes and 1.5 tonnes; Khanh Hoa -300 tonnes, 12 tonnes and 1.2 tonnes; and Ninh Thuan – 200 tonnes of rice seeds and 30 tonnes of corn seeds.

The northern mountainous province of Lang Son was among the worst hit by Storm Rammasun last July, while Storm Sinlaku swept through the central region in November, causing serious damage to Phu Yen and Khanh Hoa provinces.

Quang Tri and Ninh Thuan provinces in the central region suffered from severe droughts in 2014.

European and Vietnamese scholars met in Hanoi on February 5 to discuss how to integrate foreign law perspectives into domestic law.

Addressing the international seminar “The Challenges and Practices of Legal Transplant in Vietnam: Sharing European Experiences”, Chairman of the National Assembly’s Law Committee Phan Trung Ly said Vietnam is improving its legislative policies by referencing to foreign laws, known as legal transplants.

Legal transplant in Vietnam is still new, poorly understood, and has not drawn adequate attention thus far. Moreover, there remains some incompatibility in the Vietnamese legal system with available rules of legal transplant in the world, he added.

Delphine Malard, First Counsellor and head of the Political, Press and Information Section of the European Union (EU) Delegation to Vietnam, said sharing European experience in this issue can be highly valuable for Vietnamese legislators, especially in the context of the need to adapt Vietnamese legislation to the new Constitution.

Professor Helen Xanthaki from the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies at the University of London presented on European legal transplant policies and practices of legal transplantation in the parliaments of EU member states.

Professor Norbert Reich from Germany’s Bremen University presented theoretical issues for legal transplant and current practices of legal transplantation in several Asian nations.

Meanwhile, Professor Higuchi Yoichi from the University of Tokyo shared Japan’s experience with transferring foreign laws into their legal system.

Co-hosted by the Office of the NA and the EU Delegation to Vietnam, the event was part of the EU-Vietnam Framework Agreement on Comprehensive Partnership and Cooperation, under which the EU has a strategic objective to enhance political, economic and cultural cooperation with Vietnam.-

New Year greetings to Thanh Hoa Catholics

President of the Vietnam Fatherland Front (VFF) Central Committee Nguyen Thien Nhan extended his greetings to Catholic dignitaries in the central province of Thanh Hoa on February 5 ahead of the upcoming traditional Lunar New Year (Tet).

While meeting with local Catholics at the Thanh Hoa bishop’s palace, Nhan acknowledged their significant contributions to the cause of national independence and freedom as well as their achievements in implementing the Party and State’s guidelines, policies, and laws.

Even in times of peace, Catholics have actively participated in patriotic displays, charitable activities, maintaining social order and security, modernising rural areas, and strengthening national unity, he said.

The VFF leader said he hopes Catholic followers will take a more active role in provincial socio-economic development and building cultural life in residential areas.

Bishop Nguyen Chi Linh pledged to work regularly with local authorities to care for parishioners and augment their sense of civic responsibility, while encouraging them to join in VFF activities and develop socio-economic affairs.

The same day, Nhan visited and presented gifts to a dozen of poor Catholic families at the Dien Ho, Nga Dien and Nga Son parishes.

Catholicism constitutes the second largest religious community in Vietnam, behind Buddhism (over 12 million), with 5.7 million followers, followed by Hoa Hao (1.4 million), Cao Dai (808,000), Protestantism (734,000), Islam (73,000), and Brahmanism (56,000).-

Tet charities presented nationwide

On the precipice of the Lunar New Year (Tet) holiday, numerous organisations have visited and presented gifts to disadvantaged people to ensure a warm and enjoyable festival for all.

On February 3-4, a delegation from the Government Committee for Ethnic Minority Affairs led by Deputy Minister-Vice Chairman Phan Van Hung visited and offered over 120 gifts to ethnic minority households and policy beneficiaries in the Na Hang and Son Duong districts of northern mountainous Tuyen Quang province.

At working sessions with the districts’ leaders, Hung requested they focus on ethnic policies and make significant efforts to boost socio-economic development and ensure political security.

The People’s Committee of the Central Highlands province of Dak Nong has allocated 29 billion VND (1.36 million USD) from the local budget to purchase 59,656 Tet gifts for the poor, elderly and families of war veterans, volunteers, and martyrs.

Gifts have also been given to ethnic minority students and patients at local general hospitals.

From February 4-12, southern Dong Nai’s Labour Confederation will present gifts and bus tickets to impoverished workers in the locality.

On February 4, ten charity houses were handed over to disadvantaged families in the Thanh Mien district of northern Hai Duong province.

On the occasion, the Hanoi Department of Education and Training also offered gifts to 450 teachers and disabled students in difficult circumstances.

Hanoi Archbishop values capital city’s attainments

The Archbishop of Hanoi, Cardinal Nguyen Van Nhon, highly valued the capital city’s achievements in recent years during his Lunar New Year visit to the municipal People’s Committee on February 5.

The Cardinal highlighted that 7 percent of Hanoi’s population are Catholics who have greatly contributed to the national construction as well as the capital’s development.

He expressed his hope that the municipal authorities will continue to create favourable conditions for local Catholics’ life.

Chairman of the People’s Committee Nguyen The Thao attributed Hanoi’s high growth rate in 2014 to sizable contributions from Catholic citizens.

He said he looks forward to further support from the Cardinal and local Catholics to build Hanoi into a more civilised and developed city.

Project helps enhance Can Tho women’s financial capacity

As many as 2,300 poor women across the Mekong Delta city of Can Tho have accessed financial assistance and training courses from a project jointly implemented by the city’s Women Union and the Save the Children Organisation in the 2010-14 period.

According to Gunnar Andersen, Director of Save the Children in Vietnam, the project offered loans and financial management courses to local women, and improved their farming skills.

After five years of implementation, nearly 100 percent of the loans have been repaid, he said at a conference to review the project, which aimed to enhance women’s economic capacity, on February 5.

Meanwhile, Le Van Tam, Vice Chairman of the municipal People’s Committee, noted that many economic development models have taken shape thanks to support from the project, increasing incomes for rural households.

Particularly, the poverty ratio in Thoi Lai district reduced to 5.11 percent or 1,500 households in 2014, from 13.22 percent or nearly 4,000 in 2010, he said.

Furthermore, knowledge acquired from training courses not only helped women improve their family’s incomes, but also aided them in child care, he added.

Reaching Vietnam since the 1990s, Save the Children has had over 10 years of experience in assisting poor households to develop sustainable micro enterprises in the Mekong Delta, northern mountainous and central regions in Vietnam.

Dong Nai to improve search for soldiers’ remains

The southern province of Dong Nai is working to raise public awareness of the search for and collection of fallen soldiers’ remains coupled with further scrutiny of available information before attempting to enhance the fieldwork efficiency.

Vice Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee Nguyen Thanh Tri, who is also head of the Steering Board 1237 for the search and repatriation of martyr remains has talked about the effort.

In 2014, the province found and gathered nearly 140 sets of collectively buried remains, more than 100 of which were reburied in Nhon Trach district with another 36 reburied in Long Khanh town, according to the local steering committee board.

As many as 25 martyrs have been identified with another 11 currently undergoing processing.

The search for the remains of those who laid down their lives for national liberation and re-unification began immediately after the end of the war.

A total of 939,462 sets of remains have been found within the country, with an additional 15,989 sets brought home from Laos and 14,549 sets from Cambodia.

More than 200,000 martyrs remain unaccounted for.

Cao Bang police snare trafficker of 156 heroin cakes

Police in the northern mountainous province of Cao Bang caught a man illegally transporting 156 cakes of heroin (54.6 kg) on February 5.

The transporter is Trieu Duc Hanh, 1969, a resident in Bang Van commune, Ngan Son district, northern Bac Kan province.

He was driving on the Hanoi-Cao Bang direction when stopped by the traffic police.

Hanh, however, did not stop and drove on fast. In Cao Bang city, he left his car, tried to flee, but was caught by local police, drug investigation and customs officials.

Further investigation is underway.

Mekong Delta seeks 5.6 percent rise in employment

The Mekong Delta, comprised of Can Tho city and 12 provinces, plans to create jobs for 410,000 people in 2015, an annual increase of 5.6 percent, according to Vice Chairman of the Steering Committee for the Southwest Region Nguyen Phong Quang.

Nearly 34,000 people in the Delta secured jobs in January this year, a 5.7 percent increase from the same period last year, with 68 percent of the labourers serving seasonal positions for the New Year and Lunar New Year, according to the committee.

To reach this year’s target, the regional localities will look to provide the ideal conditions for the establishment of 14,000 industrial and commercial production facilities and the expansion of existing industrial parks generating 205,000 new jobs.

Some 105,000 labourers in rural areas will hopefully escape unemployment when 800,000 hectares of water surface are dedicated to aquatic products with an additional 4.5 million hectares of land zoned for rice and fruit tree cultivation, Quang said.

Local authorities will promote healthcare, educational and social facilities employing 5,000 people, he added.

At the same time, vocational training will be promoted with a focus on young workers and those seeking new employment due to economic and business restructuring impacts. Cooperation with enterprises will also be strengthened to equip labourers with job skills that match firms’ demand.

Highly skilled staff at companies and craft villages will be mobilised to share their expertise with local people as various specialised forms of vocational training will be offered in line with particular groups of labourers, the official said.

He noted businesses will also benefit from tax cuts on vocational training expenses.

Last year, more than 387,000 people in the region became employed, a 14.7 percent rise from the previous year.

The Mekong Delta covers about 40,000 square kilometres, has a population of 18 million, and is a major aquaculture region and the largest rice production hub of Vietnam.

Red Cross initiatives bring Tet to the poor

The Vietnam Red Cross (VRC) has put forth several initiatives to join the Party’s and nation’s efforts to care for disadvantaged groups, including the poor, Agent Orange victims and homeless elders and children, especially during the lunar New Year (Tet) holidays.

This year, the VRC continues launching the “Tet for the poor and AO victims” movement with a hope of collecting at least 1 million gifts from domestic and foreign donors and organisations.

Held annually from 1999, the event has so far mobilised over 3 trillion VND, assisting nearly 14 million poor households and AO victims. Notably, last year, the organisation collected 1.7 million gifts worth 635 billion VND.

Additionally, during this Tet festival, the VRC Central Committee will also provide 3,900 blankets for households in northern and northwestern areas which are severely hit by cold spells.

At this time, around 7,000 pairs of shoes, funded by the Korean Red Cross, will be presented to needy people.

The organisation has also succeeded in implementing the “Cow Bank” project, which is designed to provide cows for indigent districts and border communes.

Workshop promotes women’s participation in politics

A workshop to enhance women’s involvement in politics was held in central Ha Tinh province on February 2.

Speaking at the event, Vice National Assembly Chairwoman Tong Thi Phong said that today, more and more women pursue learning to improve themselves and have important contributions to the nation’s socio-economic development.

She spoke highly of the organisation of the workshop as it offered a forum to discuss measures to increase the participation of women in political issues and a chance for the NA Standing Committee to listen to delegates’ opinions about contents relating to the draft Law on Election of Deputies to the NA and the election of People’s Council members.

Participants also proposed several solutions to help women promote their capacity as a contribution to speeding up industrialisation and modernisation and achieving gender equality goal.

After discussions, they proposed the Party Central Committee’s Politburo and Secretariat issue documents on gender equality in personnel planning and appointments.

By 2020, Vietnam aims for women to fill at least 25 percent of posts in Party committees at all levels and 35-40 percent of seats in the National Assembly. The State and Governments agencies should have females occupying at least 30 percent of key leadership positions.

Health Emergency Operations Centre opens

The Health Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) was inaugurated at a ceremony on February 3 at the Ministry of Health’s General Department of Preventive Medicine, attended by Minister of Health Nguyen Thi Kim Tien and American Ambassador to Vietnam Ted Osius.

Speaking at the event, Minister Tien said that Vietnam remains vulnerable to a number of diseases, including emerging dangerous epidemics adversely affecting the people’s health, adding that the establishment of EOC represents Vietnam’s commitment to joining the Global Health Security Agenda.

She highlighted that EOC will help connect the ministry to other relevant domestic and international agencies in response to public health emergencies.

For his part, Ambassador Ted Osius said that Vietnam’s EOC is an example of 20 years of collaboration between the US and Vietnamese governments to build a foundation for the Comprehensive Partnership and recent Global Health Security Agenda.

EOC will receive, analyse, and share information on disease outbreaks from ministries and other organisations to limit the severity of any possible epidemics. In addition, the centre will set up, plan, and coordinate activities among its subcommittees.

After the inauguration ceremony, EOC held an online meeting on preventing the transmission of avian influenza from birds to humans with four institutes of hygiene and epidemiology.

Localities care for the poor and policy beneficiaries on upcoming Tet holiday

The Ho Chi Minh Farmers’ Association in co-ordination with the Ho Chi Minh City Television launched a program on February 2 to support disadvantaged farmers in the city, helping them enjoy a happy Tet (traditional Lunar New Year) holiday.

Since it was first launched in 2009, the program has raised nearly VND50,000 billion (US$2.3 billion) to care for over 7,000 urban households of disadvantaged farmers. The money has been used to construct approximately 860 houses, repair nearly 265 others and present more than 9,300 gifts to the poor farmers.

This year’s program aims to raise VND18 billion (US$8.4 million) with the goal to build 50 social welfare houses, 5,000 water tanks, buy 5,000 health insurance cards and present 5,000 gifts and 1,000 scholarships to the disadvantaged famers and their children.

The Thua Thien – Hue provincial Red Cross Society has presented 360 gifts, worth VND500,000 each, to war invalids and AO victims in the local vicinity. The provincial Fund for AO victims have also raised more than VND500 million (US$23,500) to present Tet gifts to families of policy beneficiaries and AO victims, encouraging them to overcome their difficulties.

A program entitled ‘Spring of Love’ was also held on the occasion by Hue University and Hue City Police to bring an early and warm Tet celebration to poor children and orphans in Hue city.

In preparation for the upcoming Tet festival, the Nam Dinh provincial Association for Victims of Agent Orange (AO) has presented 130 gifts, worth from VND 300,000 to VND500,000, to families of AO victims.

Thanh Hoa provincial authorities have announced plans to allocate more than VND10.3 billion (US$482,000) to care for those who made contributions to the national revolution on the upcoming Tet holiday.

Major water project in delta needs funding

Funding is urgently needed for an inter-provincial freshwater supply project for the Mekong Delta region which is forecast to lack at least 1.7 million cubic meters for daily use after 2030.

A representative of the Ministry of Construction stressed the urgent need for a freshwater supply system in the region at a meeting with the World Bank (WB) delegation in Can Tho City last week.

The project is designed to comprise Song Hau 1 and 2 water plants with each having a treatment capacity of 400,000 cubic meters per day. These facilities will process water taken from the Hau River to supply local people in Can Tho, An Giang, Kien Giang, Ca Mau, Hau Giang, Soc Trang and Bac Lieu.

Le Van Tuan, general director of Vietnam Water, Sanitation and Environment Joint Stock Company (VIWASE) and adviser to the ministry, said the total investment of the project is estimated at US$1.6 billion.

However, the cost would fall to about US$717 million if the project is executed to supply freshwater for five provinces only, namely Can Tho, Hau Giang, Soc Trang, Bac Lieu and Ca Mau, and around US$309 million for just Can Tho and Hau Giang.

Ousmane Dione, director of WB’s Water and Sanitation Program in the Asia-Pacific region, pledged financial support for the project.

He required the Ministry of Construction to conduct further evaluations of the efficiency of the project, implementation plan, water prices, and operation and management mechanisms.

The southwest of the Hau River basin area may lack at least 800,000 cubic meters from 2020 and 1.7 million cubic meters for daily use since 2030.

According to VIWASE, the water shortage in the delta is due to rising seawater intrusion and fast-growing population in the region.

Tet flower supplies abundant

Due to cold weather, flowers grown in Dalat City of Lam Dong Province might bloom later than expected but supply for the upcoming Lunar New Year, or Tet, and Valentine’s Day is projected to be abundant and even higher than last year, according to flower growers and distributors.

Truong Dinh Minh, the owner of Minh Thao flower farm on Thai Phien Street of Dalat City, said the farm is planting daisies and lilies on around two hectares and will offer some 50,000 daisy pots  and 120,000 lily plants during Tet.

Thanks to good weather, farmers expect a bumper crop this year. Therefore, flower prices may drop sharply against last year. A bunch of 25 lilies sold for VND160,000-180,000 last year, but it is down to VND120,000-130,000 this year, Minh said.

A big wholesaler in HCMC has placed an order for around 80% of flowers planted at this farm which will be harvested soon.

Tran Thai Hung, the owner of Dalafa flower farm on Hoang Van Thu Street of Dalat City, said there are around 30,000 lisianthus and thousands of sunflower plants at the farm. Hung said as Dalat is getting colder, lisianthus will bloom ten days later than scheduled but this will not affect supplies for Tet. Many traders have placed deposits for lisianthus at VND70,000 per plant and for sunflowers at VND12,000 per branch.

Nguyen Minh Hanh, head of the marketing department at Dalat Hasfarm, said the firm prepares five million branches and 600,000 pots of many species of flowers for the upcoming Tet, up 20-25% compared to last year.

“Prices offered by Dalat Hasfarm will not be more than 10% higher than the average prices on the market. Prices of tulips and lilies will remain unchanged at VND25,000 and VND43,000 per branch respectively,” Hanh said.

Many florists such as Flower Box will increase supply for Valentine’s Day, which is just five days ahead of Tet. This shop plans to import roses and tulips with volumes 20-30% higher than on normal days. Ecuador and Colombia roses will be sold at VND80,000-120,000 a branch, tulips and some other roses at VND100,000-150,000 each and peonies at VND300,000-500,000 a flower.

Due to unclear flower needs for Tet, some florists and traders remain hesitant to place orders with growers.

According to Minh of Minh Thao flower farm, traders have visited the farm as they are afraid that flowers would not bloom in time.

Phan The Bao, the owner of Bao Florist in District 1, said the shop would purchase flowers when customers place orders. Flower prices will jump around 30% as Tet has more than two weeks to go and some types of flowers may not bloom in time for Tet, he forecast.

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