Experts warn rabies outbreak possible

The risk of a possible rabies outbreak will remain high if measures are not taken to control the disease, said experts from the Ministry of Health.

According to the ministry, the disease had spread throughout Ha Noi and many northern provinces in the region. By Thursday of last week, more than 300 people in Ha Noi's Soc Son District had been bitten by infectious dogs and cats.

In the district's Bac Son Commune, nearly 100 people had been bitten.

The district's Medical Station has set up four teams of inspectors to monitor the disease, while the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology (NIHE) confirmed that four samples from captured dogs had tested positive for the virus.

Meanwhile, bite victims in the district were not believed to have contracted the virus from the animals.

In the northern province of Thai Nguyen, more than 80 people were bitten by animals suspected to be carrying the virus in the past two months, while in Yen Bai Province, more than 2,500 people were bitten by suspected rabid dogs in the first four months of this year with five fatalities.

Statistics from the Ministry of Health showed more than 175,000 people had received the rabies vaccine after being bitten by rabid dogs and cats in the first eight months this year, while nearly 70 died due to not being vaccinated.

According to ministry experts, the number of rabid dogs was growing rapidly due to poor management and a high number of unvaccinated dogs being left to wander in the provinces.

Director of the NIHE Nguyen Tran Hien said that most of the dogs tested positive for the virus, suggesting high growth in the virus' proliferation.

The death toll from the virus has increased rapidly in Asia since the year 2000, particularly in China. By 2007 virus related fatalities in China had jumped 16 times the level reported in 1995.

"The dog trade and the transporting of dogs over the borders has also enabled the disease to spread," he said.

Hien also said there was low awareness of the disease and a poor understanding of prevention leading to a high transmission, he said.

Nguyen Trung Cap, deputy head of the National Hospital for Tropical Diseases' Emergency Ward, said most fatalities were caused by people ignoring the need to receive the vaccine.

Cap said people bitten by rabid dogs and cats could show symptoms even up to months or years after being bitten.

When the patient shows symptoms such as being afraid of water, wind, lethargy and has difficult breathing, they cannot be cured, according to Cap.

People bitten by dogs or cats should wash their injuries under the tap for 10-15 minutes before washing their hands with antiseptic substances such as alcohol, soap.

They should also immediately visit medical stations for a consultation on receiving the vaccine, Cap said.

Ministry plans more than 150 roadside rest stops

The Ministry of Transport has approved a plan to build nearly 150 roadside rest stops along national highways by 2030 to provide petrol, food, drink and toilet facilities for bus passengers and motorists. At present there are only seven.

According to a decision signed by Minister Dinh La Thang last week, the plan will be divided into three parts.

From now on until 2015, the ministry will finish construction of about 40 roadside stops along National Highway No1 and another 20 stops on other highways.

From 2015 to 2020, another 80 rest stops will be built to ensure there is at least one stop in each city and province.

From 2020-2030, the ministry will build more, providing one rest stop every 30 to 50 kilometres on roads carrying more than 3,000 vehicles a day and every 70-100 kilometres on other routes.

Driving time between rest stops will not be more than four hours, to conform with road safety regulations.

The ministry has asked Viet Nam Road Administration to help local authorities attract investment from transport companies. State money will be used to provide parking and sanitation services.

Nguyen Van Thanh, Chairman of Viet Nam Automobile Transportation Association said he had been waiting for the plan for a long time."Tens of thousands of fenced off restaurants are mushrooming along highways and look really messy," he said.

Thanh said that the ministry should have a policy to control the price of services offered to stop bus companies and restaurants at rest stops from ripping off passengers.

According to the Viet Nam Road Administration, there are now only seven official roadside rest stops.

Inspections scrutinise capital's notary offices

The Ha Noi Justice Department began a 50-day inspection of 22 local notary offices yesterday.

During the inspection, a team will review the notaries' permits, human resources and accounting data as well as their implementation of financial obligations between January 1, 2012 and June 1, 2013.

The first notary office inspected was Toan Tam Notary Office in Quoc Oai District.

Early this month, Minister of Justice Ha Hung Cuong admitted that many notary offices were still negligent when it came to verifying documents during a question-and-answer session held by the National Assembly's Law Committee.

He also said that some offices had sought to attract customers by reducing fees, creating an unfair advantage.

In late June, the Ha Noi People's Court sentenced Hoang Van Su, 56, a notary at Ha Noi's Notary Office No 5, to four years in prison for "negligence causing serious consequences".

According to the verdict, Su notarised a series of faked capital contribution contracts for the then-director of a paint joint stock company without verifying them. The director then illegally appropriated VND10 billion (US$470,000) from four people.

The Notary Law, which took effect in 2007, regulates the operation of notary offices and organisations in detail. Notary activities contributed nearly VND1 trillion ($47.3 million) to the State budget in the past six years.

Methamphetamine seized by police

Police in the northern mountainous province of Son La confronted two drug smugglers yesterday in Yen Chau District's Chieng Dong Commune, seizing 42,000 methamphetamine pills as well as two motorbikes and three mobile phones.

Giang A Tong, 24, and Lau A Dung, 23, residents of the provincial Moc Chau District's Van Ho Commune, were caught illegally transporting the pills.

Tong allegedly admitted to the police that a woman had hired him to deliver the drugs to Son La City. He asked Dung to accompany him later, promising to pay him VND10 million (US$476).

The police also arrested three other suspects for trafficking drugs yesterday, seizing 15 additional methamphetamine pills.

Electric bikes used for Hanoi wedding ceremony

A young couple in Hanoi have decided to use two-wheel electric bikes as a major mean of transport for their wedding ceremony.

Bridegroom Vuong Cong Tuyen (born in 1988) and bride Nguyen Thuy Hang (born in 1992) made the decision after consulting their parents and friends in an effort to protect the environment.

The wedding ceremony was held recently in Phuc Ly village, Minh Khai commune of Hanoi’s Tu Liem outlying district.  

“We totally support them after hearing their proposal,” the couple’s parents said.

Many local people poured into the village’s road to watch and support the couple when the bridegroom took a battery-powered bike bringing the bride home.  

Hang said some of her friends planned to use electric bikes for their future wedding ceremonies.

Battery-powered bikes are very popular with Vietnamese consumers nowadays, especially young people, for fashionable designs, environmentally friendly technology and reasonable costs.

47 students released after food poisoning

47 students were dispatched yesterday from Xin Man District General Hospital in Ha Giang after they were hospitalised for food poisoning.

The students come from one elementary school in Coc Pai Town and one boarding school in Ta Nhiu Commune of the district.

After the students had dinner on Friday they developed food poisoning symptoms such as dizziness, stomach ache and nausea. Authorities have taken food samples for further investigation.

A total of 69 students in the district have suffered from food poisoning since August.

A Vietnam-Singapore hospital to take shape in Vinh Phuc

A healthcare and Medical Service Centre is under construction in the northern province of Vinh Phuc.

This is a joint venture between VC Mediproject (Singapore) and Chau Vu Company (Vietnam) at an estimated cost of US$125 million.

The 20-hectare centre will have a 300-bed general hospital, an international-standard nurse training school, and a 200-bed sanatorium for old people.

It is expected to provide better medical services not only for local people but also for other residents in neighboring provinces.

The centre is also in charge of training high-quality human resources for the medical sector and labour export.

Child Protection Law changes to strengthen child justice

The revised law on Child Protection, Care and Education needs to make clear what the responsibilities of ministries and agencies are when it comes to implementing child-friendly justice, said director of Department for Child Protection and Care Nguyen Hai Huu at a workshop in Hai Phong last week.

The law has been in effect for eight years but has significant shortcomings. The department, under the Ministry of Labour, Invalid and Social Affairs in partnership with other relevant agencies, is drafting several amendments to fix these issues.

Nguyen Van Tung, an official from the Institute of Judicial Science under the Supreme People's Court, said that the current law on criminal procedure focused on children's obligations rather than their rights.

"In many cases, witnesses don't come to court because they feel their safety, health or assets are threatened. They don't want to get into trouble because of something they're not directly involved in," he said.

The absence of witnesses was a major factor delaying trials, he said, which was particularly serious for children because long-lasting trials could significantly affect children's psychological development.

He told the story of a nine-year old child who was a witness in the rape of her aunt. That trial lasted for nine years, meaning the child had to talk about the fearful experience many times from the age of 9 to 18. When the trial finished, she knew a lot about court procedures but had also suffered a lot of mental anguish.

Huu said that while laws on civil and criminal procedure had many provisions concerning child-related investigations, interrogation and trials, child-friendly justice did not receive much attention.

The compiling board plans to design a separate chapter on child-friendly justice with specific regulations for questioning child defendants and protecting child victims and witnesses.

"Regulations are needed to get police, prosecutors and judges to specialise in child-related issues as well as to ensure the rights of the children themselves: the right to privacy, to be treated respectfully, to participate in the justice system and to be assisted by parents or an attorney," he said.

Special regulations will go into effect for child defendants, victims and witnesses that will minimise the amount of questioning, require friendly communication during questioning and minimise contact between children and defendants.

Information about child victims and witnesses in child abuse cases is often leaked, making it hard for them to get back to normal lives. Ensuring their right to privacy and restricting media reports about them would help their recovery, Tung said.

Children are frequently victims of exploitation. About 7,000 girls less than 16 years old work as sex workers across the country, accounting for 15 per cent of total sex workers, according to the Department for Social Evils Prevention under MOLISA. A report by the National Assembly's Committee for Culture, Education, Children and Youth revealed that child abuse and violence against children increased in quality and seriousness.

The workshop in Hai Phong was part of a $7.5-million project funded by the Australian Agency for International Development to combat the sexual exploitation of children in travel and tourism in the Mekong sub-region.

Ha Noi automobile showroom catches fire

Fire burst out on the second floor of an automobile showroom in Ha Noi's Cau Giay District yesterday afternoon, causing traffic jams.

The owner of the 100 sq.m Carmax automobile showroom on Vu Pham Ham Street moved all of his cars out in time.

Two fire engines came 15 minutes later and stamped out the fire. However, smoke covered the surrounding areas, as the showroom's attic contained a number of inflammable materials such as foam rubber.

Vietnamese learning software set for schools

The first complete Vietnamese software package to assist primary students and teachers studying their mother tongue was presented to the public in Ha Noi yesterday.

The package, produced by Schoolnet Technology Company, consists of 32 software programmes providing lessons and exercises based on the Vietnamese Language textbook for grades 1-5.

Lesson content is presented in the form of text, images and sound, enabling the students to study the subject independently, according to company director Bui Viet Ha.

Dien Bien jails two human traffickers

The northern mountainous Dien Bien Province's People's Court on Thursday handed down a total of 22 years jail to two men involved in trafficking adults and children.

The two defendants, Vang A Long, 19, and Giang A Lu, 23, both live in Dien Bien Dong District, Dien Bien Province. Long and Lu colluded with a man living in Lao Cai to trick women into going to China, where they are sold.

The court was told Long and Lu sold each Vietnamese for from VND10 – 20 million (US$470 – $940).

Provincial police kept track of the two and caught them when they were driving two women in Muong Cha District on May 15.

Long was given a 16-year sentence, while Lu received a six-year term.

Tainted fruit poison 10 students

Fruits loaded with toxic preservatives is blamed for poisoning 10 students in Muong Nhe District boarding school in northern Dien Bien Province hospitalise early this week.

The initial result of the Department of Food Safety's investigations found that the chemicals were found in cucumbers and melons that the students had bought locally.

The students were discharged from hospital after three-days of treatment.

Crewmen rescued from sinking boat

Nine crewmen were rescued yesterday after their boat sank following heavy wind and rain near Hainan Island in China, according to the Viet Nam Coastal Radio System.

The boat, managed by the Thanh Thanh Dat Co,Ltd from the central province of Nghe An, sank about 20 sea miles off the coast of the island.

A radio distress call alerted regional and local rescue teams.

The crewmen were rescued by another boat in the area nearly four hours after the boat went down.

Dien Bien to check food poisoning

The Health Ministry's Department of Food Safety asked the northern province of Dien Bien's Health Department to investigate the cause of recent food poisoning in the area yesterday.

The department was asked to specify the cause of the case and publish its results. The department will also instruct local medical practices and related agencies to strengthen control over food safety and hygiene at local food establishments.

Advice about food hygiene in line with Health Ministry regulations will also be offered.

Ten students fell sick at a school in Muong Nhe District, Dien Bien Province, following the incident on Monday.

Illegal firecrackers seized in Quang Ninh

Police in the northern province of Quang Ninh arrested a man attempting to smuggle 20kg of illegal firecrackers on Wednesday.

Do Thanh Tam, 23, from the northern province of Ha Nam's Thanh Liem District, was apprehended on a bus travelling from Ha Long to Ha Noi carrying the firecrackers. The case was handed over to police in Ha Long for further investigation.

Police also caught two men on September 12 and seized over 60kg of firecrackers made in China.

Dak Lak short of medical workers

The Central Highland province of Dak Lak is facing a dire shortage of medical workers affecting disease prevention and treament, said deputy director of the provincial Department of Health, Tay Nguyen.

The province now has more than 5,300 medical workers but needs about 2,000 more to meet local demand, according to the department's statistics.

"A doctor shortage is the most serious problem facing the province's health sector as many local medical students don't return to the province to work after study," he said.

Despite the province's policy efforts to attract doctors to the province, only two doctors had enrolled over four years to work in Buon Don and Ma D'rak medical stations. Many other districts such as Ea Sup, Krong Bong and Lak do not have any doctors.

The Dak Lak General Hospital has 600 sick beds serviced by around 100 doctors; 30 short of adequate staffing levels.

Since 2009, more than 50 doctors in the province have left their jobs in State-owned hospitals to work in the private sector.

At present, each doctor agreeing to work in the province will receive an allowance of VND10-30 million (US$470-1,420) depending on their qualifications and experience. They will also receive VND300,000 ($14) per month in addition to their salary.

Dak Lak General Hospital recently had invested VND10 billion ($470,000) to upgrade infrastructure and improve working conditions, however, the situation had not improved, said Nguyen.

Due to the lack of doctors, local medical stations and hospitals have only been able to treat common diseases, and transfer serious cases to more advanced hospitals. This has led to massive over-crowding in upper-level hospitals.

Nguyen suggested the Ministry of Health address the problem at the policy-level to attract more volunteer doctors to Central Highland provinces like Dak Lak.

He said the Ministry of Education and Training should do more to widen their intake of medical students from Dak Lak, to 100, and encourage them to work at the provinces.

Project to prepare deprived children for school

The Viet Nam School Readiness Promotion Project launched yesterday aims to raise school readiness for five-year-old children from disadvantaged groups and ethnic minorities.

Improving education outcomes for the population is an important part of Viet Nam's economic and social development agenda, and has been defined as one of the three breakthrough areas in its Socio-Economic Development Strategy for 2011-2020.

Investing in early childhood education is a key step towards building high quality human resources as Viet Nam strives to become a modern, industrialised market economy.

"Overwhelming evidence from around the world shows that many of the thinking and language skills as well as social and behavioral skills are formed in the early years of a child's life," said Xiaoqing Yu, human development sector director for the World Bank in East Asia and the Pacific region.

"If you want to make education more equitable, if you want to enhance everyone's chances to take advantage from Viet Nam's growing economy, if you want to tackle poverty, early childhood development and education is one of your most promising tools."

According to a survey introduced at the launch, about half of Viet Nam's five-year-olds are at risk of lacking at least one area of skill needed to start schooling.

The Early Development Instrument survey, conducted by the Ministry of Education and Training, Russia Education Aid for Development, Canada's Offord Institute and the World Bank, also shows that the percentage of children not ready for school is highest in children of ethnic minorities and of disadvantaged backgrounds.

The Viet Nam School Readiness Promotion Project is designed to address this problem by raising school readiness for children entering primary education, through supporting selected elements of Viet Nam's national programme on "Universal Early Childhood Education for 5 year old Children 2010-2015" (Decision 239).

The project supports efforts to expand full-day pre-school enrollments, improve capacity for pre-school quality assurance and strengthen professional expertise of teachers and principals.

The funding of US$100 million for this project comes from the International Development Association, the World Bank's concessional lending arm for poor countries.

Ha Noi to raise water prices by up to 30 per cent

Water prices in Ha Noi will rise by as much as 30 per cent from next month following a proposal by the Department of Finance.

A meeting of the city's People's Committee last week was told that the price for the first 10 cubic metres would increase to VND4,797 (US$0.22), up 19.93 per cent.

Prices for 10-20 cubic metres, 20-30 cubic metres and above 30 cubic metres will be set at VND5,607, VND6,979 and VND12,212 for one cubic metre of water used respectively.

Water charges for business and services will increase by 34 per cent to VND14,137 ($0.67) per cubic metre,

Head of the municipal Department of Finance's pricing section Vuong Thi Thu Hang said that the increases were the first since 2010.

"We have studied the expenses for water supply since April and found that input costs had risen due to higher power costs, taxes for natural resources and new fees for environmental protection, hygiene and safety."

She said the increase would not greatly affect hotels, which spent only 0.023-0.039 per cent of their expenses on water.

Hang said that even with the increases, Ha Noi would still have low water prices compared to neighbouring Hai Phong City, Hai Duong and Quang Ninh provinces, where water prices had already reached VND6,200-6,500.

In HCM City, the lowest price was VND5,300 per cubic metre for those who used less than four cubic metres.

Director of the Ha Noi Water Company Nguyen Nhu Hai said that for the past three years, higher expenses for providing water had led to his company making losses.

"The losses caused difficulties in company activities as well as affecting people's access to clean water," he said, adding that at present only 52 per cent of citizens in the capital city enjoyed what could be called clean water.

According to the company's calculation, the increase will make little difference to households that use less than 10 cubic metres a month.

Nguyen Thi Hai, a resident in Cau Giay District's Nghia Do Ward, said her family paid about VND100,000 a month for water.

"With the new price, we will have to pay an extra VND19,000, which is not much," she said, "What I really care about is whether the quality of the water will also improve."

Hai said water pipes needed regular checking to make sure they were not old and did not add to water pollution.

‘With the increase in water prices, we will still lose more than VND185 billion ($8.8 million) for the next few years," he said.

Hai urged local authorities to tighten regulations so that apartment owners did not take advantage of the increase to demand more money than necessary from tenants. He said this had happened many times before.

Prices are scheduled to increase again in October next year.

Substandard petrol stations pose a problem in Nghe An

Four of the ten petrol kiosks in Dien Ngoc Commune's Lach Van harbour in the central province of Nghe An's Dien Chau District fail to meet State standards, raising the risk of fire, said commune chairman Nguyen Van Dung.

Not only do the kiosks fail to comply with fire and environment regulations; they also do not offer customers a clear pricing system.

"They are small private kiosks with 3,000-5,000 litres of petrol and oil," said Dung, explaining that they were located in peoples' homes and used modified filling tools to measure petrol.

Local roads are so narrow that trucks containing petroleum cannot travel all the way to the kiosks, said Nguyen Van Khoa, a resident of Yen Thinh hamlet. Kiosk owners, as a result, often transport petrol to their tanks by motorbike or wagon – putting their lives and those of their neighbours at risk.

"Houses in this area are close to each other, so local residents suffer severe consequences if a fire occurs," he said.

Desipite this risk, the kiosks always have many customers. They not only sell petrol, but also loan ship owners cash before fishing trips, according to Dung.

He added that management of these kiosks was difficult because even when owners were warned that they were violating the law, they still continued to sell petroleum at night, when no one was keeping an eye on them.

Tran Kim Thanh, vice director of the province's Department of Industry and Trade, proposed the Ministry of Industry and Trade grant temporary business licences valid from one to two years to kiosks that satisfied fire regulations.

Dung said that creating a petroleum co-operative would ensure members followed regulations. Additionally, standard filling stations should be constructed in big harbours where many ships berth, he said.

A fire occurred in HCM City's Nguyen Huu Tri Street on Tuesday when a tanker was filling up at a Tran Quang Tuyen petrol station.

Even though the fire was extinguished after 15 minutes, the blaze burned down the station and the underground tanks ignited. The 58-year-old truck driver was seriously injured, but tried his best to put out the flames despite suffering severe burns.

Several fires have occurred at petrol stations since the beginning of this year, causing concern for nearby residents.

Last week, a fire broke out at a petrol station in Da Nang's Hai Chau District, destroying a two-storey house. In June, a huge fire at a petrol station in Ha Noi took some 1,000 firefighters about six hours to extinguish. A dozen people were hospitalised, including 11 firefighters.

Hospital performs liver transplant op

Doctors at Cho Ray Hospital in HCM City yesterday announced that they had successfully performed an adult living donor liver transplantation (LDLT) with medical technology assistance from a South Korean liver transplantation team at the ASAN Medical Center.

The patient, a 50-year-old man from Tan Phu District, who had cirrhosis of the liver and hepatitis B, was hospitalised with the last stage of liver failure in late July.

On August 15, 30 surgeons and nurses, including 12 from South Korea, performed a 14-hour surgery, using a 750-gramme liver section taken from his 18-year-old son, said Dr. Pham Huu Thien Chi, deputy head of the hospital's Hepato-Biliary-Pancreatic Surgery Department.

The patient was transferred to the intensive care unit for two weeks. He is now in stable condition and is expected to leave the hospital this week, Chi said.

His son, who left the hospital after a 12-day post-transplant care period, is also in good condition, he said.

Doctors will continue to monitor his health after he leaves the hospital to prevent common transplant-related health issues, he added.

It is the second LDLT performed at the hospital, said Dr. Tran Quyet Tien, deputy director of the hospital.

"This successful operation has laid a major cornerstone for the liver transplantation procedure in the southern region," he said.

"The hospital will work closely with ASAN Medical Center to perform at least 10 cases of liver transplantation, including deceased donor liver transplantation," Tien added.

Last year, the hospital performed the first adult LDLT in the southern region.

To date, fewer than 30 adult and pediatric LDLT operations have been performed in Viet Nam, he said.