Health sector calls for action against diabetes

People get free tests and consultation on diabetes. VN currently has some three million people suffering from diabetes, of which, more than 60 per cent are unaware of their condition.—Photo daidoanket.vn

The health sector has called for action to halt the rise of diabetes and improve care for people suffering from the disease at a workshop held yesterday in Hà Nội.

The workshop is organised on the occasion of World Health Day on April 7.

“Việt Nam has faced the rising burden of disease in the form of diabetes and other non-communicable diseases,” Deputy Minister of Health Nguyễn Thanh Long said at the event.

Long said the country’s diabetes rate had doubled to 5.4 per cent of the population in 2012, compared with 2.7 per cent in 2002. Việt Nam currently has some three million people with diabetes, of which, more than 60 per cent are unaware of their condition.

“Diabetes is caused by many risky behaviours, such as poor nutrition, the lack of physical exercise, smoking and alcohol abuse. To prevent and control diabetes, priority should be given to the effective enforcement of laws and regulations on tobacco control, food safety and environmental protection,” Long said.

The deputy minister said the health care system should be further strengthened to improve examination and treatment quality at hospitals and grassroots health care, preventive medicine and family doctor systems to enable early detection and better manage and treat diabetics in the community.

“Efforts to prevent diabetes in Việt Nam should be strengthened, especially in preventing obesity. Healthy eating habits and physical exercise practised from a young age could stop the rise of diabetes in adults,” the World Health Organisation (WHO) representative to Việt Nam Lokky Wai said.

Wai also suggested that Việt Nam expand its health-promoting campaigns to reduce risk factors for diabetes, such as physical inactivity and unhealthy diets, and strengthen the national capacity to help diabetics receive the treatment and care they need to manage their condition.

Diabetes is a chronic, progressive non-communicable disease characterised by elevated levels of blood glucose (sugar). It occurs either when the pancreas does not produce enough of the insulin hormone, which regulates blood sugar, or when the body cannot effectively use the insulin it produces.

The number of people living with diabetes worldwide has almost quadrupled since 1980 to 422 million adults, with most living in developing countries. Obesity is one of the factors driving this dramatic rise, according to statistics from WHO.

WHO is marking its annual World Health Day, which celebrates the organisation’s founding in 1948, by issuing a call for action against diabetes.

Hanoi to spend less on street lighting, city trees

Hà Nội People’s Committee Chairman Nguyễn Đức Chung on Wednesday called on municipal agencies to reduce spending on street lighting, trees and waste collection in the city.

He asked for an installation of LED (light-emitting diode) lighting products in the city over the next five years to save energy.

The city pays VNĐ260 billion (US$11.66 million) to light the streets each year. The LED lights are expected to reduce spending to VNĐ90-120 billion ($4-5.38 million).

Chung said that all future road projects would have to use LED. He also asked to halve the spending on public trees.

He applauded the Hà Nội Park and Tree Company for investing in new tree-cutting equipment and machines, which had helped reduce tree-cutting costs from VNĐ2.5 million ($112) to VNĐ700,000 ($31) per tree and ensure labour safety.

Also on Wednesday, the company started using two new tree-cutting machines that can deal with trees up to 26 and 32 metres tall. Each machine requires only three workers to operate. Previously, 10 workers were required to cut trees.

Vũ Văn Viện, director of the city’s Department of Transport, said that in order to improve the city’s aesthetics, the city must move all electrical lines and cables underground when it upgrades roads to avoid having to dig roads more than once.

Viện also suggested Hà Nội Transport Company be allowed to oversee all bus stations and bus stops to ensure smooth operation and quality. Now, seven companies are managing 363 bus stations and more than 2,200 bus stops in the city.

Students urged to wear safety helmets

Two years ago, Phạm Quỳnh Trâm was on her way to visit her grandmother when the motorbike driven by her mother was hit by a drunk driver.

Trâm and her mother fell on the street but were uninjured because they were wearing standard helmets.

Trâm, 10, described the accident during her speech at an English-Speaking Contest held on Wednesday (April 6) at Trương Định Primary School in HCM City’s District 12.

Trâm’s speech, which won first prize for fifth graders, sent her schoolmates a message: “We should obey traffic safety regulations such as wearing helmets and not drive when drunk.”

After the contest, about 2,000 students and teachers watched a fashion show and play in which students performed.

Trần Thị Hồng Ân, principal of Trương Định School, said she was pleased to see more of the school’s students wearing high quality helmets to school every day.

The aim of the English-speaking contest helps the youngest members of the community to learn invaluable skills in road safety and proper helmet use.

The contest was part of Traffic Safety Day, which is being carried out at 11 schools throughout the country in March and April by the National Traffic Safety Committee in co-operation with Ministry of Education and Training, and Asia Injury Prevention Foundation, funded by Abbott Laboratories, the global healthcare company.

It is part of an education component of the Helmets for Families programme, which for the last three years has raised awareness about road safety literacy and safe behaviour among Vietnamese families.

The programme is carried out at two schools in Hà Nội, four in HCM City and five in the Mekong Delta province of Trà Vinh.

More than 10,000 parents have attended and been provided with subsidised, high-quality helmets in exchange for sub-standard ones which they had been using.

From early 2014 to December 2015, the programme has helped raise the average helmet-wearing rate from 6.8 per cent to 66.3 per cent at schools in Hà Nội, from 27 per cent in to 82 per cent in HCM City, and from 30.4 per cent to 80 per cent in Trà Vinh.

According to the National Traffic Safety Committee, people’s awareness about helmet wearing has also improved as a result of programmes as well as strict fines imposed on violators.

The national helmet law requires adults and children six years old and above to wear standard helmets.  

The number of children under 14 years old diagnosed with a brain injury due to traffic accidents and lack of a helmet accounts for 13.4 per cent of the total number each year over the last five years.

Hundreds more illegal advertising phone numbers disconnected

The Hà Nội Department of Information and Communications (HDIC) has asked local telecom providers to disconnect nearly 750 illegal phone numbers that annoy people by sending them advertisements.

Of these numbers, 414 belong to Viettel, 198 are from Vinaphone, five are owned by Vietnamobile and one belongs to VNPT Hà Nội.

The authorities have asked the telecom providers to report the results before April 15.

This is the 54th such order to be issued since 2010, and 9,415 out of more than 13,000 illegal phone numbers, reported for sending out spam advertisements, have been banned, according to a report released last week by the HDIC.

These phone numbers are used to advertise various services, including electricity and water pipeline repair, recruitment and Internet and cable TV installation, and they are posted on public walls and electricity poles, negatively impacting the aesthetic beauty of the city.

The city authorities proposed the Ministry of Information and Communications amend and supplement the regulations dealing with violations of this nature.

The Cửu Long (Mekong) Delta city of Cần Thơ welcomed 418,827 tourists in the first quarter, an increase of 22 per cent year-on-year.

They included 65,110 foreigners, representing a 6 per cent rise.

Tourism revenues topped VNĐ441 billion (US$19.7 million), a year-on-year increase of 24 per cent.

The sharp rise in the number of tourists to Cần Thơ was thanks to improved transport infrastructure and a number of new attractions like the Ninh Kiều Pedestrian Bridge and decorative lights on Hòa Bình Avenue.

In addition, the city has numerous interesting tourism sites such as Southern Trúc Lâm Monastery, Cái Răng floating market, Bằng Lăng stork garden, and Bình Thủy ancient house.

The city plans to introduce more new tours, improve the quality of its tourism products and hospitality services, develop infrastructure, and build more hotels and restaurants to attract more visitors.

Sa Pa commune now hosts more than 3,600 homestay guests

Households offering homestay services in Tả Van Commune, Sa Pa, welcomed more than 3,600 overnight guests, earning VNĐ252 million (US$11,210).

Tả Van Commune has 48 such households, mostly in the hamlets of Tả Van Giáy 1 and Tả Van Giáy 2.

According to the hosts, the number of visitors is usually the highest in the first few months of the year when there are many festivals.

Many foreign tourists are also opting to stay at ethnic people’s houses in villages to get an insight into rural life.

The commune authorities encourage households to develop tourism products featuring the local culture to improve the quality of their services.

Situated in a picturesque part of the northern province of Lao Cai, Sa Pa has become one of the most popular travel destinations in the country.

Drivers face fines for kickstand antics

Some people have criticised a new decree allowing the police to stop motorbike drivers who leave their kickstands down, which carries a fine of VNĐ2-3 million (US$80-130).

Critics said the regulation was unreasonable because many drivers forget to put their kickstands up.

Lawyer Huỳnh Phước Hiệp from the HCM City Bar Association said the regulation is targeting people who intentionally put their kickstands down while driving in order to create sparks on the road, causing public disorder and even accidents.

The regulation leaves it up to traffic police to define violators and issue proper fines. This could lead to complications and misunderstandings; for instance, if the traffic police wrongly issue a fine, it would be difficult to refund the money, he said.

Hiệp said law-making agencies should produce a document that clearly explains the regulation, such as which drivers would be fined and under which circumstances.

Associate Professor Nguyễn Hồng Thái, deputy head of the Transport Faculty under the Hà Nội University of Communications and Transport, said the regulation is reasonable if it only fines people who intentionally put their kickstands down. But it would be too harsh if it also punishes people who make a simple mistake, Thái said.

“People often remind each other to put their kickstands up if they come across someone who forgets it,” Thái said. “Why don’t we find ways to encourage this action?”

Others said motorbike-manufacturing firms should equip motorbikes with alarm whistles that go off when drivers forgot to put their kickstands up.

But until then, motorists will have to keep their eyes not only on the road, but also on their kickstands, lest they lose some money.

Terror doesn’t sell

The HCM City People’s Court last Wednesday sentenced Hoàng Hải Trai, 28, from HCM City, to one year of imprisonment for terrorist threats.

Trai was the director of the Beauty Lashes Co Ltd, a company that sold false eyelashes.

In April last year Trai had a unique marketing idea, he planned to use terrorism for publicity.

In May, Trai prepared a number of 50cmx50cm boxes with Arabic words outside and his company’s products inside, together with an alarm clock that sounded like the timer of a bomb.

The boxes were put at different crowded places in Hà Nội and HCM City. They were soon discovered and confiscated by local authorities.

Trai was arrested on May 21 last year by the HCM City Investigation Police. City authorities said that Trai’s action was dangerous and affected public security by frightening residents.

It seems unique and original ideas are not always good or profitable.

80 photos that will transport you back to the 80s

For many of us, the 1980s doesn’t seem that far in the past— certainly given many of the historic images of Vietnam we have run from over 100 years ago.

The images in this fantastic exhibition entitled ‘Vietnam in the 80s’ that go on display April 8 at the L’Espace – French Cultural Centre in Hanoi will rekindle powerful memories for those in their 40s and older.

For the younger audience, however, it’ll seem like they’re showing a completely different nation— which, in many ways, it was.

The photos were taken by Michel Blanchard, who worked for the AFP News Agency Office in Vietnam from 1976 to 2006.  

This is definitely a mustn’t miss event that runs through April 30.

MDEC-Hau Giang to take place in July

Deputy PM Vu Van Ninh, Head of the South West Steering Committee, approved the organization of the Mekong Delta Economic Cooperation (MDEC) Forum 2016 in Hau Giang province.

Under the title, “The Mekong Delta – Active integration and sustainable development,” the event will be held from July 11-15.

It consists of six key activities, including an opening ceremony; a meeting on “The Mekong Delta – Active integration and sustainable development;” a business form; a workshop on credit in favor of socio-economic development; a workshop on “Supporting and promoting technological applications for enterprises in value chains; a conference of the Steering Committee, and a closing ceremony.

The MDEC is an open joint activities to strengthen and promote the image of the potential strengths of the region; boost economic cooperation, build partnership program between the provinces and cities in the region together with the provinces and cities nationwide, and with ministries and central agencies; and efficiently exploit the available resources of each locality and region, providing sustainable growth.

The forum also targets to enhance cooperation with foreign countries, cooperate with the countries concerned that have an interest in the management and use of natural resources of the Mekong River; promote trade cooperation, investment promotion and tourism.

It also aims to gather initiatives of scientists at home and abroad, the managers of ministries and central agencies, the provinces and cities in the region and the businesses on each topic; report and propose to the PM for consideration and promulgation of mechanisms and policies to create favorable conditions for the development of strong and sustainable.

From 2007 to 2014 the Mekong Delta Economic Cooperation forum is held every year alternately in the provinces and cities in the region.

In 2015 it was only organized as the “Week of green tourism in Mekong Delta” (not The Mekong Delta Economic Cooperation forum).

From 2016, the forum will be held every 2 years.

Vietnam's cattle breeders anxious about contaminated fodder with tough law pending

Anxious cattle breeders in Vietnam must choose safe fodder brands for their herds, as a new law heavily punishing those that use banned chemicals will come into effect this July.

For the past month, Duong Thi Hoa, a cattle breeder in Dong Nai Province, has stopped mixing her own pig food from such ingredients as corn, soy beans, and premixes, which are a blend of various raw materials and additives that contain vitamins, minerals, antibiotics, and other essential ingredients.

Instead, Hoa is shifting toward buying ready-to-eat pig food from a local manufacturer.

“It costs me over VND1,000 [US$0.04] more for each kilo of pig food, but I feel safer this way,” Hoa said. “I’ll have it this way for now, rather than risk buying ingredients on the market that may contain banned chemicals.”

Hoa’s worries are understandable, as a revised law that will come into effect on July 1 this year states that those who that feed their cattle banned chemicals can face to up to 20 years in prison.

According to Hoa, some households in her area were fined at the beginning of March, after excessive amounts of salbutamol, a banned chemical that boosts the growth and production of meat in cattle, were found in their pigs’ urine.

Many other breeders like Hoa herself have grown wary of the hundreds of animal food brands currently circulating on the market, for fear of mistakenly buying chemically contaminated food.

Tran Quang Trung, owner of a farm of over 3,000 pigs in Dong Nai Province, said there was no way a regular breeder could know which brand put banned substances into their food, when all brands advertise their products as clean and of good quality.

“I only buy products by long-established manufacturers, because they use a qualified production process and have their reputation to lose if they do something illegal,” Trung explain.

Nguyen Kim Doan, vice chairman of the Dong Nai Animal Husbandry Association, said the Association has advised local breeders to be careful when picking their fodder brand, and keep the proof of purchase to protect themselves on legal terms.

“Pigs are currently sold at a high price while the price of fodder is dropping, so breeders are getting stricter on choosing cattle food in order  to maximize their profit without putting themselves at risk of breaking the law,” Doan said.

As a move to assure customers of the quality of their products, many fodder brands are now offering proofs and making solemn pledges.

Late last month, Tran Minh Tien, sales director at VH Company in Dong Nai, brought his company’s fodder in for a test to prove that the food contained no banned substances.

“Customers are anxious about banned substances in animal food, so we had to take the initiative to prove that we build our business on the basis of prestige and quality,” Tien said.

Similarly, Lee Meng Hong, director of research and development at Anco and Proconco cattle food companies, said they had started printing “no banned substances” stamps to be stuck on their products as a proof of quality.

According to Lee, apart from regular quality standard inspections, his brands also send samples of their fodders to an independent testing center appointed by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to monitor the levels of beta-agonists such as salbutamol, ractopamine, and clenbuterol.

“One hundred percent of the hundreds of samples of our products have tested negative for beta-agonists. This practice will continue to ensure that no banned substances are present in our fodders,” Lee stressed.

Meanwhile, Dr. Duong Nguyen Khang, director at the Center for Research and Transfer of Technology under Nong Lam (Agriculture-Forestry) University, advised breeders to turn to technical methods to increase the productivity of their cattle.

Khang said the quickest way to do this was to import foreign breeds and crossbreed them with domestic ones and create high quality breeds that adapt well to Vietnam’s climate.

Laos national arrested for carrying explosives across border

A Lao national was arrested yesterday in central Quảng Bình Province for allegedly carrying 47kg of explosives across the Lao-Vietnam border.

The male suspect was identified as Vieng Vilay, 33, a resident of Laos’ Khammouane Province.

Border guards and customs agents at Cha Lo international border gate in Quảng Bình Province found two suspicious solid packs on the suspect’s tow truck.

He confessed that a Vietnamese man named Hồng had hired him to transport the two packs of explosives from Laos to Việt Nam for 200,000 Lao Kip (US$25).

He was told to give Hồng the explosives upon arriving in Quảng Bình’s Minh Hóa District.

The case is still under investigation.

3,000 five-in-one Pentaxim vaccine doses to be delivered

As many as 3,000 additional five-in-one Pentaxim vaccine doses will be made available to children aged two months to two years.

Registration for the vaccination programme opens today on tiemvacxin.vn, the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology (NIHE) said.

Parents who have successfully registered will take their babies to the Centre for Preventive Health Care and Technical Scientific Service at 131 Lò Đúc in Hà Nội’s Hai Bà Trưng District to receive the vaccine between May 5 and June 6 this year.

Parents are instructed to bring their registration note, the baby’s birth certificate and the identification card or passport of the person who registered with the centre.

NIHE warned parents not to take their babies to the centre if they didn’t have a registration note.

Further instructions on registration have been published on nihe.org.vn.

This is the fifth vaccination programme offered by NIHE.

The five-in-one Pentaxim vaccine is a combination of five different vaccines that protect infants against diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough and hepatitis B, as well as Haemophilus influenza Type B.

As part of the expanded national immunisation programme, the Centre for Preventive Health Care and Technical Scientific Service is also providing free Quinvaxem vaccination to prevent five common, potentially fatal, childhood diseases: diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis (whooping cough), and hepatitis B, as well as Haemophilus influenza Type B.

Chinese man in connection with $90mln gambling ring arrested in Vietnam

Police in Hanoi said Tuesday they had arrested a Chinese man accused of running a huge online gambling ring after three years evading investigators in his country.

Zhou Yun Miao, 47, has been transferred to police in the Chinese eastern province of Zhejiang, according to the Hanoi police.

Zhou was caught on Hoe Nhai Street in Ba Dinh District earlier this month, after three years in hiding in Vietnam.

Chinese police believed he was the financial manager of an illegal gambling ring, which recorded transactions worth nearly US$90 million between 2012 and 2014

They said in September 2013 Zhou and his accomplices fled to Vietnam, where he continued managing this ring.

The police in China's Zhejiang province issued warrants for him and three others in October 2014.

Vietnam eyes UNESCO recognition for 2 coastal areas

Basalt rocks along the coast of Binh Chau Commune, the central province of Quang Ngai. Photo credit: Minh Hoang/Zing.vn

Scientists have urged local authorities to seek UNESCO recognition as global geoparks for two coastal areas in the central province of Quang Ngai.

They made the proposal at a recent meeting with Quang Ngai authorities after carrying out field trips with foreign scientists to the eastern commune of Binh Chau and Ly Son Island, according to Nguoi Lao Dong newspaper.

Tran Tan Van, chief of the Vietnam Institute of Geosciences and Mineral Resources, was quoted as saying the areas boast a diversity of geographical layers representing many changes in the Earth's crust, including basalt layers formed from a 10-million-year-old volcano.

Nguyen Hoang, an expert at the Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology, said Ly Son, in particular, is like a "natural museum" of volcanoes, given that 70 percent of its area carries volcanic features.

"It deserves to be named a global geopark."

At least two ancient volcano craters were discovered under the sea near Ly Son, which is situated 15 nautical miles off the coast, Tuoi Tre newspaper reported. Three others were found at Binh Chau's Ba Lang An point, it said.

While agreeing that the areas deserve global recognition, foreign experts said Vietnam need to do many things before applying to UNESCO.

Prof Setsuya Nakada of the University of Tokyo’s Volcano Research Center was quoted as saying at the meeting that Vietnam cannot rely merely on the areas' geological features to get them the recognition, and how they draw the attention of local communities, tourists and world researchers is also important.

The more that people care about the areas, the greater the chance to get UNESCO recognition, he said, adding local authorities should organize spa and diving tours to attract tourists.

Once tourism grows, it will generate revenues for local people who will in turn take part in protecting the sites, according to foreign experts.

Dr Nancy Rhoenar Aguda of the University of the Philippines said the authorities should publish a book about Binh Chau and Ly Son to raise public awareness and launch other community-education activities.

Le Quang Thich, vice chairman of Quang Ngai, agreed to take on board the scientists’ advice and turn Binh Chau and Ly Son into tourist attractions and raise local people's awareness about the need to protect them before submitting the applications to UNESCO.

Dong Van District in the northern province of Ha Giang is Vietnam’s only UNESCO-recognized global geopark.

Vietnam arrests 2 Chinese for stealing from foreign bank accounts

Police in Da Nang have arrested two Chinese men for using fraudulent cards linked to stolen bank accounts to pay for services and withdraw a cash amount worth US$18,000 in Vietnam.

Hao Yan Jun, 27, and Ping San Shi, 40, were caught after a local bank detected an "unusual transaction" at a travel company on Monday.

The bank later found the transaction was made with a fraudulent card and seized a number of cards from the duo.

They reportedly confessed that they had made the cards using accounts stolen from many foreigners. They allegedly used the cards to withdraw a total of VND400 million (US$18,000).

There have been many reported instances of criminals stealing money using fake bank cards in Vietnam. Experts warn this will continue without measures to improve banking security.

Only around 4 percent of 84 million credit cards issued in Vietnam use the global standard EMV chip technology, which ensures higher security and lower risk of data breaches.

The rest still use magnetic strips, which cost only a third of the new and safer technology. Vietnamese banks plan to switch completely to EMV by 2020.

Microsoft supports skill training for local students

Microsoft is cooperating with the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) in a skill training project for students to help them meet requirements of employers and materialize plans for business startups.

Microsoft and VCCI launched the “Youth Spark Career Readiness” project in Hanoi on Monday to provide working skills for youths to find jobs or launch startups, and build a bridge between them and small and medium enterprises (SMEs).

A report of the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs showed some 1.05 million people of working age were jobless in the fourth of last year, with people aged 15-24 accounting for more than half.

Pham Thi Thu Hang, vice chairwoman of VCCI, said human resource development is a major challenge as tertiary graduates could not work for enterprises if they are not retrained as shown in a recent survey of VCCI.

Nguyen Ba Quynh, director of public sector at Microsoft Vietnam, said 2015 marked an important milestone for Vietnam when the nation joined the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) and that Vietnam’s labor demand is forecast to rise by 14.5% in 2025.

Besides, free labor movements within the AEC bloc will benefit Vietnam as the country can attract skilled labor, hence boosting labor productivity.

In Vietnam, SMEs make up 97% of the total and 80% of the retail market, and employ 77% of the total workforce. Therefore, Microsoft through the project wants to share business experiences and technology with SMEs and students of vocational schools to help them join the labor market right after their graduation or start up their own businesses.

Work permit checks available at Family Medical Practice

Family Medical Practice, Vietnam’s leading private clinic, has recently announced the introduction of work permit health checks at its Care 1 clinic in Ho Chi Minh City.

Located at The Manor, 91 Nguyen Huu Canh, Binh Thanh district, the five-star Care 1 clinic will commence providing work permit health checks immediately.

The work permit check typically takes between 30 and 45 minutes. Upon satisfying all checks, a certificate is supplied to the customer for their work permit application, typically three to four days after the check.

Family Medical Practice, the first foreign-operated, multi-disciplinary medical provider in Vietnam, opened in Hanoi in 1994 and owns and operates five modern clinics in Hanoi, Da Nang and Ho Chi Minh City. On an area of 420 sq m, its Care 1 clinic employs an English speaking staff to meet the requirements of the city’s burgeoning expatriate community.

Three alleged acid attackers arrested in Saigon, one hired for $45

Three suspects of a brutal acid attack that hospitalized two women last week were arrested on Friday, including one who was unacquainted with the victims and paid to commit the assault, police said.

On March 30, two young women H. and D. had acid thrown on their faces and bodies by two male attackers as they were driving in Go Vap District, Ho Chi Minh City.

One of the victims suffered fourth-degree burns on 75 percent of her face and lost her left eye, while the other received minor burns on her arms, according to doctors at Cho Ray Hospital, where the two are being treated.

Investigations into the attack were immediately carried out by Go Vap police, who later identified and apprehended three suspects, 21-year-old Truong Thi Kieu Quyen, 20-year-old Nguyen Dinh Thanh Tam, and 19-year-old Pham Hoang Long.

Initial interrogations found that Quyen and D. were previously engaged in a lesbian relationship, while H. was a friend who hung out in the group.

Following a conflict between Quyen and the victims, D. and H. wanted to terminate any connection with the former, which she protested.

Quyen had since been going out with Tam, her new boyfriend, since August 2015, and it was him who wanted to teach H. and D. a lesson for turning their backs on Quyen after hearing the story.

Tam had initially intended to use boiling water to commit the crime in the middle of March, but later thought it would not be enough and decided to use acid instead, to which Quyen agreed.

Tam and Quyen then bought a bottle of acid at VND106,000 (US$5), thinned the acid with water, and store it in a milk bottle.

The man then picked the date of March 30 to carry out the attack, after asking Quyen about the victims’ schedules.

At Tam’s request, Quyen introduced him to Long, who was short of money at the time, to be his accomplice.

On March 29, Tam rented a blue Exciter motorbike, drove Quyen to meet Long, and hired him for VND1 million ($45) to join them in the crime.

Long accepted the deal and received VND200,000 ($9) in advance payment for his duty.

At around 9:30 am the next day, Tam and Long wore long-sleeved shirts, put on face masks and drove their rented motorbike, the license plate of which had been taken off in advance, to Pham Van Chieu Secondary School in Go Vap to wait for their victims.

While they were waiting, Tam poured the acid solution into a plastic jug and gave it to Long.

At around 10:00 am, Quyen drove alone to the Vincom Quang Trung shopping mall close to the area to wait for Tam to call.

Around 10:35 am, when H. and D. drove past the attackers, Tam phoned to alert Quyen and then chased after the victims.

Tam caught up with the young women in front of house number 1276 on Quang Trung Street in Go Vap, then approached the victims for Long to splash the acid onto their faces and bodies, before driving off.

The man gave Long the remaining VND800,000 ($36) for the attack as promised and the two parted.

Shortly after the assault, when H. and D. were running into a nearby house to ask for help, Quyen arrived at the scene and took the victims to hospital.

The three suspects were charged with intentionally inflicting injury, and could face up to 15 years in prison for their crime, according to the Penal Code of Vietnam.

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