Authorities launch probe into carnival train accident

One of the children injured in the carnival train derailment last Friday, at the Southern Ca Mau Province's Culture House, has been shifted to HCM City's Cho Ray Hospital.

Doctors said the boy suffered broken bones and damage to the lungs in the accident. The other injured person was reportedly having constant pain on one side of her body and also constant headache.

The director of Dang Khoa Production JSC, which manufactured the carnival train, said his company had assembled more than 40 trains across the country that had passed strict quality tests.

He said a technical problem that had not been properly fixed could be the cause of the accident.

Huynh Chi Dung, director of the culture house, said other attractions were ordered to thoroughly check their machines and equipment, and that the house's board of directors has launched an investigation into the accident.

Foot and mouth outbreak found in cattle, pigs in north

A new outbreak of foot and mouth disease has been reported among cattle and pigs in the northern mountainous provinces of Bac Can and Lao Cai after residents illegally imported infected animals, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD).

The latest outbreaks were reported in Bat Xat District's Trinh Tuong Commune, where more than 65 infected pigs and cattle have been culled.

Provincial authorities have sent vaccines and chemicals to sterilize infected areas.

To prevent the epidemic from spreading, agriculture minister Cao Duc Phat has sent an urgent dispatch to leaders of People's Committees in border provinces asking them to stop cattle smuggling through border gates.

The ministry has also asked authorities in the northern mountainous provinces and the central provinces of Nghe An and Ha Tinh to control cattle transportation through border gates to prevent foot and mouth disease.

As well as vaccinating animals in the area, local authorities have stopped the transportation and slaughter of animals at high-risk from infectious diseases in neighbouring areas.

The ministry also instructed local authorities to implement measures against the sale and smuggling of cattle via border crossings, and to issue harsh penalties for those that violated regulations.

Provincial authorities should co-ordinate with veterinary departments to strengthen the inspection and monitoring of the disease to stop it from spreading, the minister added.

The provinces also needed to reinforce checks on the transportation, slaughter and smuggling of products to ensure food safety.

Since 2014, Border Guard forces in the northern province of Lang Son have detected and dealt with 700 cases of smuggling worth VND12 billion (US$571,400), seizing 34 tonnes of poultry meat and 55,000 birds during that time.

Plant blamed for massive road cracks

Cracks on a 30-kilometre-long road from northern mountainous Lao Cai Province to Sa Pa Township are believed to have been caused by a hydro-power plant nearby.

Nguyen Trong Hai, director of the provincial Department of Transport, said that the provincial Roads Administration reported the cracks on the only road to the tourist town.

Cracks about 20 metres long and up to 2.5 metres wide have appeared in Sa Pa District's Trung Chai Commune. They are located on a high slope, making it difficult for vehicles to pass by safely.

According to an administration report, the cracks appeared after explosions by Colben Energy JSC to create a tunnel for the Coc San Hydro-power Plant.

It added that before the New Year, the quality of the road was good as it had just been upgraded.

The administration has installed stakes along the road to warn drivers where the cracks are. It also asked the company to halt blasting operations until further investigations are held.

Hai said the department had mobilised workers to fix the road.The department has reported the development to the provincial authority.

However, Nguyen Xuan Tinh, the operator of the plant, has a totally different point of view. He told Viet Nam News that the plant had been operating for 10 years and had never created any cracks before.

"It can hardly be our hydro-power plant," he said.

Tinh said that another nearby power plant, Coc San Thuong, a plant which was under construction, might be the reason of the cracks.

The Viet Nam Roads Administration sent an inspection team to check the cause of the incident.

Regulation issued on electrical safety

The Ministry of Construction has issued a new technical regulation on electrical installations in homes and public buildings.

Nguyen Cong Thinh, deputy director of the ministry's Department of Science, Technology and Environment, made the announcement in a workshop held in Ha Noi in Wednesday.

The law, to go into effect in July, laid out steps for setting up electrical systems in dwellings and public buildings, Thinh said.

"The regulation was made in accordance with the International Electro-technical Commission's system, and replaced a series of weaker previous regulations," Thinh said.

The new regulation spells out standards for installing electric wires, sockets, fire prevention equipment, electric overcharge prevention equipment and electrical systems in bathtubs, showers and swimming pool rooms to prevent electric shock and other electricity-related accidents.

Officials attending the workshop said the regulation met demands for international integration in the electrical sector.

Thinh said that the State would issue another document detailing punishments for organizations or individuals who violated the new law.

The International Copper Association of Southeast Asia, an international organisation working on the science, technology and electricity sector, assisted the Ministry of Construction in creating the law.

Complaints on transport hit 1,000 last year

The Ministry of Transport (MOT) Chief Inspector Le Thanh Ha yesterday told an online conference the ministry received and processed more than 1,000 complaints last year.

Four contractors were banned from taking part in transport projects from six months to two years due to violations in bidding and quality-control procedures.

Ministry inspectors carried out only 14 inspections. Eight done without prior notice mainly focused on public issues, such as over-weight trucks, vehicle registrations, environmental protection and traffic safety.

At the conference, which was held to review ministry inspections in 2014, Ha praised individuals who had gone out of their way to contribute to the effort to fight corruption.

He said that the ministry's corruption-fighting taskforce, although few in numbers, had managed to fulfil their duties.

Inspectors will continue to focus on pressing issues in 2015, such as fighting corruption, improving infrastructure projects' quality, raising work-safety standards, traffic safety and environmental protection.

The conference listened to reports from local transport departments regarding the ministry's resolution and solution to stop overweight trucks.

Deputy Minister of Transport Nguyen Ngoc Dong said the inspectors as well as inspectors based in localities nationwide must take the initiative in the fight against corruption.

Cigarette smuggling increases after Tet

Cigarette smuggling can break out afresh after the Tet (Lunar New Year) holiday because of increasing demand for foreign products, police in border provinces say.

Early this month, the Waterway Police Department in the southern province of An Giang were conducting a patrol in Chau Thanh District's Can Dang Commune when they saw two men behaving suspiciously. They fled on seeing the police, leaving behind 5,000 packets of smuggled cigarettes.

Last month, the provincial police seized more than 68,000 packets of cigarettes.

In another southern province, Kien Giang, the Duong Dong Port Border Guards seized 18,000 packets of cigarettes being brought by boat. It was the biggest haul recorded so far on Phu Quoc Island.

Two days earlier the Duong Dong Port Border Guards had confiscated about 1,000 packets of illegally imported cigarettes at the Phu Quoc International Airport.

Under Circular 19 issued by the Ministry of Finance early last month, localities are to receive VND500 (US$0.02) for each packet of smuggled cigarettes destroyed, a five-fold increase over the amount set previously (Circular 57 issued in 2012).

The southern province of Dong Thap last year seized nearly a million packets of smuggled cigarettes, but the Viet Nam Cigarettes Association has said that the province will receive fees based on the old circular. Provincial authorities are not happy, saying they lack funds and should be paid the amount mentioned in the new circular.

Tay Ninh Province, also in the south, awaits word on which circulars will apply before destroying 340,000 packets of cigarettes that it has seized.

Motorcyclist remanded to custody

The People's Procuracy of southern Dong Nai Province decided to prosecute and remand Ngo Tien Phung, 22, to custody for two months yesterday.

Phung has been remanded to custody for allegedly violating road traffic regulations, which resulted in the death of Lin Ma Sang–a motorcycle escort on duty during a women's bicycle race on March 1.

The accident occurred when cyclists and motorcycle escorts were about a kilometre away from the starting line, and a group of motorcyclists, including Phung, drove by at a high speed tried to overtake the escorts.

While trying to avoid the cyclists' group, Sang rammed his bike into another escort's motorcycle from behind and fell to the ground. Sang was then run over by Phung's motorcycle and died on the spot.

Pregnant woman's sudden death attributed to Mezicef drug

A drug containing Mezicef is likely to have caused the death of Nguyen Thi Tuong Vi, a pregnant woman from the Mekong Delta province of Ben Tre, a doctor has said.

This was declared by Dr Trinh Minh Hiep, deputy director of the provincial Nguyen Dinh Chieu General Hospital, today.

The 25-year-old pregnant woman had died at 9.55am yesterday due to an adverse reaction, which took place after she was vaccinated with the drug Mezicef.

On Tuesday, she had undergone a caesarean operation at the hospital. The surgery was successful, and a baby boy, weighing 4 kilograms, was delivered, following which both the mother and baby were deemed to be in good health.

Nguyen Thi Kim Phuong, the pregnant woman's mother, said Vi was in good health and had never been allergic to the drug.

She said she suspected the quality of the drug and the skills of the doctors being responsible for her daughter's adverse reaction to the medicine.

Truong Van Hoa, head of the provincial Department of Health's Pharmacy Office, said the Ministry of Health's Drug Administration Department had ordered hospitals, health centres and drug stores across the country to stop selling and prescribing any medicine containing Mezicef last September.

However, even till late January this year, the ministry had allowed the distribution of the medicine.

According to the Nguyen Dinh Chieu General Hospital, authorised agencies will conduct an autopsy to find the cause of the death. The hospital will also direct the doctors and nurses involved to re-examine the process of the surgery and their responsibilities.

Foundation provides free operations for 70 children with harelip, cleft palate

The Military Hospital 175 and Project Viet Nam Foundation this week performed operations on 70 disadvantaged children in the southern region who have a harelip and cleft palate.

The free operations, which cost US$10,000 each, were provided under an agreement between the hospital and the foundation.

The Military Hospital 175 is one of the leading hospitals in the south with 1,000 beds and 56 wards. It provides health-care checks to about 1,500 non-resident patients and 1,200 residents every day.

Project Viet Nam Foundation has operated in Viet Nam since 1996. They have provided operations to more than 1,700 children with harelip and cleft palate in 35 northern provinces.

Seven arrested for illegal gambling in Ha Noi

Police in Ha Noi's Hoai Duc District announced yesterday the arrest of seven people during an investigation into illegal gambling on Tuesday night.

The police raided the house of Ngo Dang Xuan, a resident in Duc Thuong Commune's Cao Xa Village, caught seven people who were gambling inside and seized VND12.5 million (US$589) in cash from the scene.

Initial investigation showed that Xuan usually organised the gambling sessions at his house, and charged each participant VND100,000 ($4.7).

The case is being investigated further.

Massive fire destroys 5 houses in HCM City

Fire-fighters battled a huge fire that gutted five houses with flames and flumes of smoke that were visible throughout many parts of the metropolitan area.

The fire broke out around 11:15am on March 16 and raged through a total of eight houses in alley 360 of ward 1 in District 4 of the city.

Dozens of fire engines and 160 fire-fighters were called in to stomp out the blaze. The fire was controlled after 30 minutes.

An investigation into the cause of the fire is ongoing.

Vietnamese hackers allegedly steal 50,000 accounts

More than 50,000 accounts of customers of Vietnam's state-run telecom giant VNPT were stolen and leaked on the Internet over the weekend, company spokesperson Bui Quoc Viet said on March 15.

The accounts, including personal information and login credentials, belong to customers of the VNPT branch in the southern province of Soc Trang, Viet said.

“Hackers targeted the software used to look up customer information hosted on an old server that is being replaced at VNPT Soc Trang,” he elaborated.

Viet did not comment on the culprits behind the attack, even though Security Daily, a Vietnamese-language Internet security website, reported on Saturday that a hacker outfit called DIE Group has claimed responsibility.

It may be a Vietnamese hacker group, Security Daily said.

DIE Group has posted the stolen accounts on their Facebook page, saying they are from “more than 10,000 mobile phone and landline accounts of VNPT,” according to Security Daily.

The login section on the VNPT Soc Trang website is seen in this screenshot taken in Ho Chi Minh City on March 16, 2015.

Security Daily said on its website that the real number of stolen accounts could be as many as 50,000, which was later confirmed by the VNPT media person.

The stolen accounts include the name, address, phone number, username and password that can be used to log in to the customer service section on the VNPT Soc Trang website.

“Hackers can use such information to log in and launch other attacks using the authorized access,” Security Daily warned.

“The leaked information can be a gold mine to spammers and swindlers.”

VNIST JSC, the operator of Security Daily, said the incident suggests that there are dangerous security holes in the VNPT system, which makes it vulnerable to hackers.

“Thanks to such vulnerabilities, hackers may be able to steal most of the information, including the system administrative accounts, from VNPT databases,” the company said.

The vulnerability was fixed on Saturday, VNPT deputy general director Pham Duc Long told tech website ICTnews the same day.

“VNPT has strengthened security in its entire network to ensure customers that their private information is safe,” Long was quoted as saying.

The attackers said on Facebook that they had decided to leak the stolen information online after “receiving no response from VNPT about our discovery of their security holes.”

DIE Group, however, did not reveal the usernames and passwords of the stolen accounts for fear that they may be used by other hacker groups, according to their Facebook status.

VNPT, fully known as the Vietnam Posts and Telecommunications Group, is a telecommunications company owned by the Vietnamese government.

The Hanoi-based company boasts more than 60 million mobile phone subscribers, nearly 10 million landline phone subscribers and “dozens of millions of Internet users,” according to its website.

New social insurance scheme nears

The Government hopes the new Law on Social Insurance, set to take effect from May 1, 2016, will overcome some of the fundamental shortcomings of the country’s current social insurance policies.

The new law which was passed by the National Assembly last November will replace the current Law on Social Insurance 2006 as part of an effort to ensure the rights and welfare of employees, organizations and individuals participating in social insurance.

The law will broaden the coverage of the social insurance to boost the number of social insurance participants. This will include short-term or seasonal workers with labour contracts of one to three months and voluntary social insurance participants.

In addition, gender equality is also incorporated into the provisions of the new law to ensure better welfare entitlements during maternity leave for both male and female employees and an adjusted pension calculation method for female employees intended to lessen the pension disparity between male and female employees.

During a workshop on March 12 which focused on ensuring social security through the implementation of the Law on Social Insurance held by the National Assembly Committee for Social Affairs in conjunction with the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs (MOLISA) and the Vietnam Social Security (VSS), issues related to the law were discussed.

MOLISA Deputy Minister Pham Minh Huan stressed that the biggest challenge in expanding the scope of social insurance was low awareness among the public, with many people unaware of their entitlements. Huan argued that public awareness on the issue needed to be dramatically raised through better government promotional campaigns.

“Changes to the regulations on social insurance will have a direct impact on the rights and benefits of employees and in turn this will affect the costs of production, sales and profitability of businesses. Therefore, prior to the date of application of the new regulations, both employees and employers need to be thoroughly informed of the changes,” Huan emphasized.

Pham Do Nhat Tan, former director of the Department of Social Security under the MOLISA agreed, stating that the contents of the changes must be communicated in a concise and forthright way.

Tan then suggested that “the total reform of human resources across the sector is crucial to the development of the social insurance system, everyone will need to reassess the way they work in regards to social insurance and welfare, and the improvement in administration procedures and IT will mean the system can start moving towards embracing international standards.”

According to VSS deputy general director Do Van Sinh, to effectively implement the law, Vietnam could enhance and develop an IT system for the social insurance sector specifically to manage its operation and services.

“In the run-up to 2020, we want to see at least 50% of the workforce benefiting from the social insurance programme, equivalent to 28 million workers, including through voluntary and compulsory social insurance. However, to make this a reality, every step of the preparations need to be carried out to make the implementation of the new law a success,” added Sinh.

Activities to mark 40 years of national reunification

A symposium is to be held on March 17 to shed light on HCM City’s development and integration as part of activities marking the 40th anniversary of the liberation of southern Vietnam and national reunification.

At a recent press briefing, Deputy head of the municipal Party Central Committee’s Commission for Communication and Education Pham Duc Hai said the meeting will discuss changes in the city and lessons for reinforcing national unity in HCM city’s construction and development.

To celebrate the 40th anniversary of the liberation of Kon Tum and national reunification, an exhibition opened at Kon Tum Province’s Museum on March 14, featuring 240 documentary photos, 130 objects, and 25 scientific projects.

Colonel Nguyen Van Hau, deputy political commissar of Army Corps 3, said, “We want to convey a message that our happy and prosperous life today is thanks to the clear-sighted leadership of the Party and President Ho Chi Minh as well as the patriotism of people in the central highlands, and the bravery and sacrifices of soldiers of the Vietnam People’s Army. The young generation should keep in mind the nation’s historic traditions.”

Hospitals assured to have enough bed of admission

Most hospitals in Ho Chi Minh City have confirmed that they have sufficient facilities so that their in-patients are no longer sharing a bed with two to three other patients, according to Nguyen Tan Binh, director of the Health Department of Ho Chi Minh City.

However, two central hospitals, the Hospital for Traumatology and Orthopaedics and the Ho Chi Minh City Oncology Hospital, have not met this condition. Each hospital currently has 140-180 in-patients over their 100 single bed capacity.

The announcement was made during a recent meeting between Health Minister Nguyen Thi Kim Tien and officials from the HCMC People’s Committee to discuss the overload at hospitals and the coverage of health insurance.

Every year, the city’s health sector offers diagnosis and treatment to an average of 40 million patients, half of whom come from other provinces and cities, said Tang Chi Thuong, vice director of the HCMC health department.

He admitted that the overload of hospitals has taken place for many years.

Recently, HCMC has built new hospitals and enlarged and upgraded old ones to tackle the overload at hospitals. The city has aided and transferred technology to provincial hospitals to limit the transfer of patients to HCMC.

District level hospitals have reached a bed capacity of 90 to 100%, thus limiting in-patients to central hospitals in the city.

In Vietnam, state-owned hospitals are divided into district, provincial, and central level ones. Generally, a patient with a normal disease is not admitted to a central-level hospital -- which boasts better doctors and facilities -- without recommendation from that of a lower level.

Part of the cause behind the overload at hospitals is the preference of patients for major or ‘central’ hospitals over those nearest to them.

The Ho Chi Minh City Oncology Hospital is an example since it has a total of 600 beds but has to accept 1,500 – 1,700 in-patients, meaning that two or three patients share a bed. Some even lie under the bed.

On average, a bed in K Hospital in Hanoi is used for 1.7 patients at the same time. The same holds true for Bach Mai Hospital in Hanoi, while Cho Ray Hospital sits at 1.4, the Central Children’s Hospital at 1.2%, and the Hospital for Tropical Diseases at 1.2.

According to the Ministry of Health, the overload of hospitals can be relieved when the nation has an average of 25-27 hospital beds per 10,000 people. It is now over 20 beds for 10,000 residents across the nation.

Concerning the issue of health insurance, Luu Thi Thanh Huyen, vice director of the HCMC Social Insurance, said the city has 5.5 million people under health insurance, or 69.18% of the population.

HCMC needs to attract an additional 500,000 people to join the insurance program this year to reach the target of 76% of the population.

French locality holds concert to help AO victims

The Committee for the Van Canh Friendship Village (CFV) in Essonne province, on the outskirts of Paris, staged a concert on March 13 to raise money for Vietnamese Agent Orange (AO) victims.

Speaking at the opening of the concert, the mayor of the Paris 11th district underscored the importance of the event and thanked those in attendance for support of Vietnamese AO victims.

Raphael Vahe, President of the French CFV in turn, emphasized that 40 years on generations of Vietnamese are still suffering from the aftermath of 80 million litres of chemical herbicides that were sprayed during the US war.

All of the proceeds collected will be used to benefit Agent Orange victims she said adding that specifically VND3.9 billion would be used to fund the cost of building a swimming pool to provide therapeutic treatment for war veterans and AO victims.

For his part, Vietnam Ambassador to France Nguyen Ngoc Son emphasised the importance of supporting AO victims. He affirmed that French friends’ activities have not only helped improve AO victims’ living conditions but have also served to encourage them to overcome difficulties in their daily lives.

Vietnamese pianist Can Vu Ngoc and French flutist Isabelle Hureau brought down the house with brilliant performances at the event.

Vietnamese woman arrested in Thailand's fake visa raid

Police in southern Thailand has arrested a Vietnamese woman and her Thai accomplice who were allegedly members of a counterfeit-visa ring.

Songkhla police have seized 63 bogus visa stamps used to help people enter Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore at an apartment of Suthipong Kanung at 10 a.m on March 11, Bangkok Post news website reported.

The 47-year old man was arrested soon before police arrested Do Thi Nghia, 46, at a different, undisclosed location in the southern province.

Police said an earlier investigation showed that Suthipong had been acting as a coordinator for a Vietnamese broker, whose name was not revealed, of counterfeit visas in Malaysia.

He would be paid 1,500 baht per head for each illegal alien who used their visa services to enter the three countries.

Nghia’s role in the ring has not been disclosed.

Police say they are pressing charges of falsifying passports and visa stamps against the two suspects, adding that the Thai man also faces another narcotics charge as he was tested positive for illicit drug use.

How to deal with gender pay gap in workplace

On March 14, a workshop on workplace gender discrimination took place in Vung Tau city, southern Ba Ria-Vung Tau province, aiming to provide an insight into global standards on wage and income to promote gender equality and ensure sustainable employment.  

The event attracted representatives from the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs (MoLISA), its southern provincial bodies, the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation, the International Labour Organisation (ILO), experts and businesses.

MoLISA Deputy Minister Doan Mau Diep said Vietnam approved the ILO Convention No.100 on Equal Remuneration and Convention No.111 on Discrimination (Employment and Occupation).

It is imperative for developing countries in the process of international integration like Vietnam to thoroughly grasp these documents and related matters, especially when the country is to build a law on minimum wage, he said.

Attendees studied international labour standards on equal pay and good practice in applying these standards in Vietnam.

They also debated the current legal framework on wage and income, orientations for designing a draft law on minimum wage, research findings on gender pay gap in workplace, and policy recommendations.

Vietnam outpaces neighbors in labor productivity growth

Vietnam’s labor productivity grew fastest in Southeast Asia in two recent decades, according to a survey released this week by a UK organization.

“Economic Insight: Southeast Asia” found the country's workforce productivity expanded 184% during the 1991-2012 period and the number of high-skilled workers also increased.

The survey is published by Cebr, the partner and expert in global economic forecasting of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW), which promotes, develops and supports more than 144,000 chartered accountants worldwide.

It focuses on Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam, considering them the largest economies of the regional bloc.

The productivity growth of Vietnam, the poorest in the group, is described as “remarkable” as it is more than double those of other countries.

Vietnam also has the highest increase in the ratio between skilled and unskilled workers, 76% between 2001 and 2012, showing a transition from an agrarian to a manufacturing-based economy.

But according to the report, Vietnam still has a lot to do about its education to make sure it provides the “requisite” skills such as engineering, science and programming.

Vietnam currently competes on cost but that will only secure investors for the near future, it said.

The “natural” next step is to develop skills that match the needs of the economy.

It said that although the foundation-level education in Vietnam is strong, the government has not focused on skills development, leaving a significant mismatch between what is trained and what is needed.

The country “has serious need for reform in education,” it said.

A 2013 survey by the International Labor Organization (ILO) showed that labor productivity in Vietnam was among the lowest in the Asia-Pacific region.

It found that Singaporean productivity was nearly 15 times that of Vietnam’s, while Japan’s was 11 times higher and the Republic of Korean 10 times higher.

Vietnam’s productivity was just one-fifth of Malaysia’s, and two-fifths that of Thailand, according to ILO study.

Over 80 doctors to work in remote areas

Over 80 doctors have registered to join a pilot project designed to encourage young doctors to work in 62 remote and poor districts across the country, according to the Ministry of Health.

Before starting their voluntary work, the doctors will participate in an 18-month training course in five departments and will benefit from many other preferential policies.

Under the programme, registered doctors will be required to work at district medical units for three years for males and two years for females.

The programme, designed to send about 500 young doctors to work in disadvantaged areas, will begin in 2016, aims to fortify the number of healthcare workers at the grassroots level, addressing the lack of doctors in remote areas.

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