Đồng Nai worried about “brain drain” at public hospitals

The southern province of Đồng Nai is worried about the increasing number of doctors quitting jobs at public hospitals to work at private ones for better income.

Director of the province’s Department of Health Huỳnh Minh Hoàn said that brain drain negatively affected the service quality of public healthcare facilities, especially at the district level.

Last year, the department reported that 65 doctors left local public hospitals. In the first half of this year, 38 doctors of public hospitals have quit jobs. Most of the doctors are senior and experienced, and some are in management posts such as head or vice head of departments at the hospitals.

Work pressure and modest income have been blamed for the “brain drain” at Đồng Nai Province’s public hospitals, Vietnam News Agency reported.

Phạm Văn Dũng, director of Thống Nhất General Hospital, said young doctors usually chose public hospitals to work as soon as they graduated from university to accumulate experience and earn medical practice licences.

However, they did not want to work at public hospitals for long because of the high workload and pressure – a result of overcrowding at public hospitals, and more importantly, because of low salaries.

At public hospitals, on average, a new doctor earned VNĐ7-8 million (US$300-350), while skilled doctors were paid VNĐ12-20 million. Private hospitals could offer them twice as much or more.

Private hospitals were also willing to pay compensation in case the doctors required the province’s financial assistance to attend medical universities.

Director of the province’s health department Hoàn said the department planned to ask the provincial People’s Committee to increase salaries for local doctors and medical workers.

The department also asked local public hospitals to speed up autonomy and rely less on State funding so that they could offer higher salaries. 

4 sentenced to death for drug trafficking

The People’s Court in Hà Nôị has sentenced four men to death for illegally transporting 75 bricks of heroin.

They are Trần Văn Đông, 26, and Trần Văn Trường, 32, residents of Ea Kar District in the Central Highlands province of Đắk Lắk; and Nguyễn Minh Trường, 20, and Nguyễn Triệu Vy, 21, from Cam Lâm and Cam Ranh District in the central province of Khánh Hòa.

According to indictment, on April 14, 2016, the drug prevention police under the Ministry of Public Security found Vy and Trường behaving suspiciously while driving a motorbike. The police asked them to stop and seized 30 bricks of heroin.

With the help of the testimony of Vy and Trường, the police urgently arrested two more members of the ring - Trần Thanh Đông and Nguyễn Minh Trường.

Following investigation, the police clarified that on April 12, 2016, Trường travelled to Hà Nội following Đông’s directions to meet Vy, and then both went to Chương Mỹ District of Hà Nội to get the drugs.

On the way to the meeting place, they received a strange phone call asking them go to Mai Châu District in northern Hòa Bình Province on motorcycles to collect the drugs.

Vy and Trường on the way to Hòa Bình Province delivered their motorbikes to two strange people to hide drugs in the trunk.

After waiting a while, they got back the two motorcycles. They were caught red-handed during their return.

Expanding the investigation, the police also discovered four more defendants transporting 45 bricks of heroin from the end of 2015 to April 2016.

The total quantity of illegal drugs transported by Đông and his accomplices reached 75 bricks of heroin, equivalent to more than 20kg.

In court on Monday, the defendants admitted to the serious crime.

HCM City earns VNĐ14.2 billion from ads on buses

HCM City earned more than VNĐ14.6 billion (US$663,000) from advertisements on buses last year, according to the city’s Public Transport Management and Operation Centre.

The centre and Koa Sha Media Vietnam, a Japan-based out-of-home (OOH) ad agency, placed the ads on 171 buses running on 10 routes following an auction held by local authorities.

Established in 2012, Koa Sha Media Vietnam focuses on public transport ads. It is a subsidiary of Koa Sha Inc, a provider of OOH advertising media in Japan since 1938.

Following the project’s success, the city’s Department of Transport submitted a proposal to the People’s Committee to allow ads on 2,082 buses on all routes around the city.

An auction for advertisements is expected to begin in September. The profits, expected to be around VNĐ200 billion ($8.9 million) per year, will be used as the city’s revenue to reduce dependence on State subsidies.

The ads are expected to appear later this year, with ads encouraging the use of buses placed alongside commercial ads.

Ads covering the interiors of buses are also planned. 

Govt, civil society organisation partnership is important: conference

Developing sustainable partnership between the State and civil society organisations (CSOs) is an inevitable requirement. Việt Nam has tremendous potential to develop the partnership but has not fully exploited it, experts said at a conference on Tuesday. 

At the annual conference of Vietnamese CSOs in Hà Nội, representatives of CSOs discussed the advantages and difficulties, and proposed solutions towards co-operation for sustainable development.

The weakness of Vietnamese science-technology organisations is unstable budget, which results in high attrition and transfers, said Bùi Kim Tuyến from Việt Nam Union of Science and Technology Associations, adding that organisations also don’t have long-term partners.

CSOs that specialise in science and technology have difficulty accessing the State budget, and lack policies to help non-governmental organisations access capital, equipment for research and use science and technology, she said.

Nguyễn Thu Giang, vice-president of the Institute for Community Health Development (LIGHT), said Vietnamese NGOs mostly depend on international sponsorship, but these sources are becoming scarce. She proposed strengthening the capacity of CSOs by developing a CSO network and holding an annual dialogue with the Government to resolve difficulties.

CSOs are a necessity, and nations looking to achieve sustainable development cannot ignore building and developing partnerships with CSOs, said Dr Trịnh Tiến Dũng, former head of the United Nations’ Development Programme’s Governance Unit.

However, capital sources and motivation for Việt Nam growth have dried out dramatically, he said, adding that “hard” international development sources such as Official Development Assistance and Foreign Direct Investments are on the decline. We need to pay more attention to “soft” internal sources such as social capital, he said.

If social capital is exploited well, it can become a huge, sustainable source and motivation for national development. Its exploitation depends firstly and mostly on the partnership between the State and CSOs, Dũng said.

Dũng proposed that the State build a “civil society organisations’ eco-system” to promote CSO activity, which is one of the three pillars for social development, besides State and private business.

37 landslide points discovered on expressway

Thirty-seven new landslide points have been discovered on the Hạ Long-Vân Đồn Expressway, the northern province of Quảng Ninh, local authorities reported.

A leader of Biên Cương BOT Joint Stock Company, which is the investor of the expressway project, said recent heavy rains in the north seriously affected ongoing construction of the expresway, which was expected to fully come into operation by the year end following the company’s commitment with Quảng Ninh Province People’s Committee, according to Người đưa tin (The Messenger) online newspaper.

Statistics of the company revealed that after floods began on August 13, the road had developed 37 new landslide points, of which 10 are in severe condition, accompanied by hundreds of cubic metres of rock and soil pouring onto the asphalt road.

To repair damages and ensure the project’s progress, the investor has sent workers to the site to clear the soil and rock. However, due to the abundant soil at the site, the task was difficult.

The investor is also building an additional drainage system, carrying out dredging aimed at limiting the impact of the weather on the lives of residents.

Previously, in May 2017, Quảng Ninh Province’s leaders visited the construction site to inspect and ask the investor to ensure progress of the expressway project, which must be completed by December 2017.

At a follow-up working session, provincial leaders proposed the investor change contractors who didn’t ensure progress.

The Hạ Long-Vân Đồn Expressway project was invested in the form of BOT (Build-Operate-Transfer), with total investment of nearly VNĐ12 trillion (US$526 million) through a joint-venture under the name of BOT Biên Cương Joint Stock Company. 

Private clinic fined for illegally offering services and medicines

The central province of Thanh Hóa’s Department of Health on Tuesday fined a private clinic VNĐ60 million (US$2,640) for illegally offering healthcare services and medicines.

The clinic owned by Lê Đình Mùi, 62, of Thiệu Vận Commune, Thiệu Hóa District was licensed to carry out simple services including injections, changing bandages or taking blood pressure.

However, the clinic was found to have offered examination and treatment to hundreds of patients. The clinic advertises treatment for many illnesses and diseases.

Mùi was also found to have been selling medicine to patients.

Besides the fine, Mùi had his medical practice licence revoked for six months.

According to the Ministry of Health, there are 206 private hospitals and more than 30,000 private clinics nationwide.

Last month, Minister of Health Nguyễn Thị Kim Tiến asked health departments across the country to tighten management over private hospitals and clinics.

The departments were asked to publicise on their websites all information about licensed private hospitals and clinics in their localities.

The departments were also directed to frequently inspect and punish violating facilities.

Đà Nẵng resort to develop solar power capability

A Đà Nẵng resort will soon become the country’s first solar-powered entertainment complex, highlighting the coastal city’s push towards renewable energy sources. 

The solar power system at the CocoBay resort will save 4.5 per cent of total energy consumption at the 31ha entertainment centre, and reduce the complex’s carbon emissions by 45 tonnes each year. The first phase of the project will become operational later this year.

The project will be built by the HCM City-based SolarBK company following an agreement with the Empire Group, CocoBay’s parent company.

The CocoBay solar project follows previous investment in renewable energy in Đà Nẵng. Đà Nẵng is seen as the first city in Việt Nam to promote clean energy solutions for residential use. The city has been developed as a tourist attraction with green and high-tech industries.

According to a report from the city’s Industry and Trade department, around 30 per cent of Đà Nẵng city’s population uses solar-powered heaters, while five-star hotels and resorts have used the solar power heater systems as an environmentally friendly cost-saving measure.    

Đà Nẵng also developed a pilot project of installing a solar power system for two deep-sea fishing vessels.

In 2014, a small solar power system was built in FPT Complex project – the Information Technology (IT) Service Centre – to supply 12kWh each day. The project also has a solar-power heater system with a capacity of 1,500 litres.

In 2011-15, the city cut 12,000 tonnes of carbon emissions and saved $433,000 by using nano-lighting technology in its public lighting system.

The city also plans to develop two solar power stations on buildings in 2020, which will generate electricity for the buildings where they’re installed. 

A representative of SolarBK told Việt Nam News the CocoBay system was designed with a 1.5 MWp (megawatts photovoltaic) capacity at an investment of US$1.8 million in 2017-19. As planned, the system will provide 67,640 kilowats per hour (KWh) per year.

The project is not SolarBK’s first foray into solar power at hospitality complexes. Earlier, SolarBK built a 4,000-litre solar powered heater system at the five-start Naman Retreat Resort, also operated by the Empire Group.

Last year, the company began construction of a high-tech renewable energy device factory complex in the southern province of Bà Rịa-Vũng Tàu at a total investment of VNĐ385 billion ($17 million).

SolarBK also completed construction of a solar-powered lighting system in Trường Sa (Spratly) Island and a solar power-driven sea water filtration system on Việt Nam’s Song Tử Tây Island.

Cả Pass tunnel road opened to traffic

Cả Pass tunnel road, Việt Nam’s most modern tunnel route, was opened to traffic on Monday morning, reducing travel time from one hour to 10 minutes.

The tunnel linking Phú Yên Province’s Hào Sơn Commune to Khánh Hòa Province’s Cổ Mã Commune stretches over 13km, including two bi-tube tunnels – Cả Pass tunnel (4.1km in length) and Cổ Mã tunnel (500m).

Each tunnel has two sides, each of which has two lanes for vehicles travelling in the same direction at the speed of 80km per hour.

This is the first tunnel road project under Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) using domestic funds of over VNĐ11 trillion (US$478.2 million) invested by Vietnamese investors and contractors.

The tunnel is expected to solve traffic congestion, enhance traffic safety through Cả Pass and help connect the two provinces to boost socio-economic development.

Service fee for the tunnel is lower than the fee of the 22km winding road of Cả Pass. Emergency service is available round-the-clock to support drivers.

According to the Đèo Cả Investment Joint Stock Company - the project’s investor, toll fee on the route will be collected from September 3 onwards. 

Major bridge to be built under public-private partnership

The capital city’s People’s Committee has proposed to Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc to change the construction model of a new bridge from public investment to public-private partnership (PPP).

The 3.5km bridge will be parallel to current Vĩnh Tuy Bridge in Hai Bà Trưng District and cost some VNĐ2.56 trillion (US$112.6 million) to build.

The project is commonly known as the second phase of the Vĩnh Tuy Bridge project, which was completed and opened for public use in 2010.

Vĩnh Tuy Bridge 2 was approved for construction by the Hà Nội People’s Committee in the 2013-15 period under the public investment mechanism. It was then postponed due to former Prime Minister Nguyễn Tấn Dũng’s order to enhance management of the State’s budget and Government bonds.

The bridge is now considered a major traffic construction project of the city, since the expansion of Ngã Tư Sở-Vĩnh Tuy Bridge stretch of Ring Road 2 is increasing traffic flow and putting pressure on the current Vĩnh Tuy Bridge.

The city’s People’s Committee has decided that the Vĩnh Tuy Bridge 2 is an urgent traffic project that needs to be built from now until 2020 under the PPP mechanism of Build-Transfer (BT).

It has also proposed to apply specialised mechanisms for investor selection and take all responsibility for the result of the selection process.

By applying these mechanisms, the bidding, negotiating and contract signing process will be reduced to an average of 285-315 days, instead of 700 days if investor selection was done accordingly to procedures regulated by the Government’s Decree No 15/2015/NĐ-CP on PPP which was promulgated and took effect in 2015. 

Once the proposal is approved, the committee will direct concerned parties to facilitate the preparation process and start the bridge’s construction this year, the online Vietnamplus reported.

HCM police bust high-priced prostitution ring

Police in HCM City has busted a large-scale prostitution ring which involves local models and actresses.

The police arrested three women on Thursday for brokering sex work services.

Nguyễn Thị Tiền, 33, her sister Nguyễn Thị Ngọc, 31, and Phạm Thị Thanh Huyền, 32, were arrested when police raided hotels in District 1 and 10 and nabbed four people involved in prostitution.

At the investigation agency, the objects admitted that they provided sexual services ranging from US$700 to $2,500 per client. The deals were brokered by Tiền and Ngọc.

The sisters claimed to be working as hosts for entertainment shows, and had persuaded some of the actresses and models they worked with to become sex workers to earn some extra cash.

They also confessed that about 30 celebrities had joined the high-priced prostitution ring.

The police are expanding the investigation.

Agencies sign agreement on food-safety at IPs, EPZs

An agreement to ensure food safety at industrial parks (IPs) and export processing zones (EPZs) was signed on Thursday by the HCM City Food Safety Management Board, HCM City Export Processing and Industrial Zones Authority (HEPZA) and HCM City Labour Union.

Under the agreement, the number of food poisoning cases are expected to drop by 30 per cent by 2019.

The city’s Food Safety Management Board will help businesses set up automatic testing equipment at canteens, which will be checked regularly.

To ensure the quality of raw materials for meals, the city will provide the canteens with information on providers of safe raw materials.

Firms that purchase prepared meals have been asked to regularly check food safety and hygiene conditions at businesses that provide such meals.

Workers at IPs and EPZs are exposed to food-poisoning risks because of substandard canteens and poor-quality prepared meals, according to Phạm Khánh Phong Lan, head of the HCM City Food Safety Management Board.

Last year, a total of 311 workers in four separate incidents at IPs and EPZs in the city were diagnosed with food poisoning, Lan said.

The city is home to 17 IPs and EPZs where more than 1,160 firms employ nearly 286,000 workers, Nguyễn Hoàng Năng, head of HEPZA, said.

More than 210 firms have canteens that prepare meals for workers and the rest provide prepared meals or provide cash to workers to buy meals.

Hải Phòng builds infrastructure for new urban area near river

Construction of technical infrastructure for a new urban area north of the Cấm River in the port city of Hải Phòng officially began on Thursday.

The project, which has total investment of nearly VNĐ10 trillion (US$444 million), is expected to be ready in two years.

The project consists of four main items including technical infrastructure systems for the urban area in the north of Cấm River, main traffic systems of the urban area, the dyke on the left side of Cấm River and the 1,138 metre Hoàng Văn Thụ bridge.

Speaking at the ground-breaking ceremony, Secretary of Hải Phòng city’s Party Committee Lê Văn Thành emphasised that the project is important to implement a Politburo Resolution and the Prime Minister’s decision as well as meeting the aspiration of the local Party, Government and people in developing Hải Phòng.

With the construction of the new urban area, Hải Phòng strives to become a type-1 city and a modern centre at the central level. 

HCM City to pilot new taxi stands

Five to six taxi stands will be tested in a pilot run on HCM City’s Nguyễn Du, Hàn Thuyền, Alexandre Rhodes and Lý Tự Trọng streets in District 1, the city’s Department of Transport has said.

The department is working with the District 1 People’s Committee to select appropriate signs and taxi companies to carry out the test, as well as specific stand locations.

The taxi stand plan, which is expected to be approved by the People’s Committee, will begin in September.  

The stands, which are expected to reduce traffic congestion, will allow passengers to get a taxi more easily, the department said.

Road construction suspended during APEC meeting

Construction on some roads in HCM City will be suspended during the third Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Senior Officials Meeting (SOM 3) from August 18-30 and the APEC Ministerial Meeting from September 9-15.

Suspension of construction will occur on the following streets: Võ Thị Sáu – Cách Mạng Tháng 8 – Nguyễn Thị Minh Khai – Cống Quỳnh – Nguyễn Cư Trinh – Nguyễn Thái Học – Ông Lãnh Bridge – Vĩnh Phước – Hoàng Diệu – Nguyễn Tất Thành – Tôn Đức Thắng – Nguyễn Bỉnh Khiêm – Nguyễn Thị Minh Khai – Hoàng Sa and Võ Thị Sáu.

Construction on several streets near Tân Sơn Nhất International Airport will also be suspended, including Trường Sơn – Trần Quốc Hoàn – Hoàng Văn Thụ – Nguyễn Văn Trỗi – Nam Kỳ Khởi Nghĩa and Phan Đình Giót, according to the city’s Department of Transport.

First Embrace gives newborns a good start in life

All 63 provinces and close to 9,000 staff have been coached since the country launched the early essential newborn care (EENC) programme in 2015. In addition, around 78 per cent of term babies receive skin-to-skin contact and are exclusively breastfed in the immediate newborn period.

The results were announced at the second biennial meeting on accelerating progress in early essential newborn care in Đà Nẵng on Thursday.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) also called on participating countries – Laos, Cambodia, the Philippines, Mongolia, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Việt Nam – to redouble efforts at improving maternal and newborn care in order to save the lives of millions of newborn infants at risks of death at birth.

According to a report released at a press conference on the event, a newborn baby dies every two minutes in the Western Pacific region due to early separation from mothers at birth, and newborn babies are exposed to hypothermia and hospital-acquired infection as they do not benefit from skin-to-skin contact.

Experts also warned that babies are often given infant formula instead of breast milk, which increases the risk of infection, malnutrition and death. Meanwhile, early initiation of breastfeeding and colostrum, as well as breastfeeding, have been scientifically verified to benefit babies.

The core of EENC is the First Embrace – immediate and thorough drying after birth followed by skin-to-skin contact and exclusive breastfeeding.

First Embrace keeps babies calm, stimulates breathing and prevents hypothermia, as well as reducing anaemia and brain haemorrhage.

Dr Nguyễn Thị Lợi, deputy director of Đà Nẵng Women’s Hospital, said skin-to-skin has been implemented at the hospital since 2014, and no baby deaths were recorded there between 2016 and the first half of 2017.

“Nearly 99.7 per cent of mothers giving birth at our hospital offer breastfeeding, and babies often increase their weight with one kilogram every month,” Lợi said.

“We really ensure that newborn babies have a peaceful sleep on their mothers’ breast, while mothers ease their physical pain with a lovely embracing of babies,” she said. She added that infection rarely occurred with babies at the hospital since the EENC was launched there in 2015.

Lợi also said the hospital, the first private heath service in Đà Nẵng, has offered non-profit maternity service in central Việt Nam.

According to WHO, EENC has been introduced in 17 countries, benefiting four million newborns annually with improved care. 

Data-science major needed at university level

Vietnamese universities should offer majors in data science to meet the demands of the fourth industrial revolution, Hồ Tú Bảo, a professor at the John von Neumann Institute under Việt Nam National University-HCM City, has said.

Students at IT universities now study statistics, data mining and machine learning, but this is insufficient for professional growth in the field, he said.

Bảo spoke at a workshop about data science studies held on Wednesday on the university’s campus.

The curriculum for data science must be updated, he said, adding that a pilot programme should be created to allow students in any field to apply for a master’s degree in data science.

Nguyễn Đức Nghĩa, deputy director of Việt Nam National University-HCM, told Việt Nam News that lecturers at universities in the country should use advanced technologies and software as part of their teaching methodologies.

Nghĩa said that business production as well as education would be affected by the fourth industrial revolution, which will include more automation and data exchange in manufacturing technologies.

Policies at the national level must be adapted to address these changes, he said, adding that data in the country is now digitised, but the use of such data is still limited.  

“Data can help us analyse and develop appropriate social, educational and economic policies that will be the most effective during the fourth industrial revolution,” Nghĩa said.

Bảo said that challenges as well as opportunities would result from digital transition.

For instance, South Korea set up a Big Data Institute under Seoul National University in 2014 which connects 220 professors who are leading national reform in education and research on data science.

The Seoul government in April invested US$9 million in the institute for a three-year period.

Similarly, Singapore has set up a data science consortium, including the National University of Singapore and Agency for Science, Technology and Research, to strengthen coordination between industry and educational institutes.

Bảo said that Việt Nam has a large pool of qualified IT staff who have good math and computer skills.

The staff also are adept at reacting to change, and are able to grasp opportunities brought by the fourth industrial revolution, Bảo said. However, many of them lack English-language skills.

“We also lack sufficient data in many fields,” Bảo added.  

Incham to organise blood donation campaign

A blood donation drive will be organised later this month by the Indian Business Chamber in Việt Nam in collaboration with the city’s Blood Transfusion Haemotology Hospital.

It is an annual event that seeks to help spread a positive message with respect to donating blood.

The event will start at 8.30am on August 27 at the Youth Cultural Centre, 4 Phạm Ngọc Thạch Street, District 1.

Incham has called on its members to participate and also persuade their colleagues, friends and family to do so.

Donors must be in good general health and at least 18 years old and weigh at least 45kg.

First-time donors have been told to have a healthy meal and drink a lot of water before and after donating blood.

The hospital will issue all donors a donor card that will enable them to get blood for free when they need it.

Experts said blood donation is good for health, helping reduce heart attack rates, cholesterol levels and the risk of cancer.

Besides, the event offers donors free health screening and blood testing for some major maladies.

Incham is a non-profit organisation established in 1999 to represent Indian businesses and promote relations between India and Việt Nam.

Two Lâm Đồng households caught growing marijuana

Police in the Central Highlands province of Lâm Đồng have found two households in Đà Lạt City growing nine marijuana plants that collectively weigh around 25.5kg.

Lieutenant Colonel Trịnh Đình Long, deputy head of the city’s Drug Crime Investigation Police Department, said on Wednesday they conducted a raid on two flower garden greenhouses in Thái Phiên Flower Village in Ward 12 and found nine marijuana plants being grown between the flowers. Each plant was between 70cm and two metres high and 15cm in diameter. The police seized all the plants.

Lê Thành Diệu and Lê Thanh Tùng, owners of the two greenhouses, claimed that they started growing these plants four months ago to prevent mosquitoes and to use as chicken feed.

Marijuana and other narcotic plants are banned in Việt Nam. Under the country’s Penal Code, those who grow marijuana shall be sentenced to jail for between six months and seven years, depending on the violation. Offenders would also be fined between VNĐ1-15 million (US$44-660).

Disaster control, water resources departments established

Two general deparments have been set up to help the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) deal with natural disasters and issues related to irrigation.

The General Department for Natural Disaster Prevention and Control (GDNDP) and the General Department for Water Resources (GDWR) have been established following a Government decision, which comes into effect on Friday. Both the two units will be managed by the MARD.

Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Nguyễn Xuân Cường has appointed Nguyễn Văn Tỉnh as general director of the GDWR and Trần Quang Hoài as general director of the GDNDP.

Cường said the departments will be responsible for advising and assisting the State in the areas of irrigation, clean water supply, dyke management and natural disaster prevention and control.

In the context of complicated climate change and its impacts on agricultural production, Cường asked the two organs to formulate a specific action programme to boost agricultural restructuring, which would be attached to new rural construction.

There needs to be increased co-operation between the departments and local authorities to reduce risks caused by the 12 types of natural disasters the country faces, the minister said.

Figures compiled by the ministry show that 106 people have died or are missing since early this year because of natural disasters, and more than 1,000 houses collapsed or were damaged, causing a loss of around VNĐ5 trillion (US$220 million).

Bacterial infection behind fish deaths in Quảng Ngãi

Bacterial infection has caused the mass deaths of grouper fishes being bred in cages in the central Quảng Ngãi Province’s Bình Sơn District, according to the provincial animal husbandry and veterinary department.

The announcement was made by department head Nguyễn Đình Tuấn on Wednesday.

The incident took place at the end of July in Bình Thuận Commune’s Tuyết Diêm 1 village, where locals found grouper fishes in many cages dead and floating in the water. By August 3, the number of deaths had spread to the nearby cages, too. 

The fishes that died from the infection had been bred for two to five months.

Department officials had collected fish and water samples for tests and checked the salinity, oxygen, NH3 and pH levels of the water. Results showed that NH3 levels exceeded the standard level and some of the fishes got infected by bacteria such as photobacterium damselae and vibrio parahaemolyticus.

The veterinary staff and local authorities have advised farmers to collect the dead fishes for burial and take steps to improve oxygen level in the cages.

Hundreds of buses, trains added for national holiday

Hundreds of extra buses and trains will be used to meet increasing travel demand during the upcoming three-day holiday for National Day (September 2).

State employees and workers have a three-day break from Saturday to Monday (September 2-4), according to the Ministry of Labours, Invalids and Social Affairs.

The Hà Nội Railway Transport Joint Stock Company will mobilise an additional 14 trains to run more than 120 trips with a total of nearly 90,000 seats during the period.

The company plans to offer a discount of 4-8 per cent on the ticket price for passengers purchasing tickets in groups.

The Sài Gòn Railway Joint Stock Company said it will increase trains on some key routes from HCM City to Nha Trang, Phan Thiết and Quy Nhơn during the holiday.

Meanwhile, the Hà Nội Bus Station Company will add 300 more coaches to meet commuters’ demand.

Company director Nguyễn Anh Toàn, citing the Hà Nội Transport Corporation, said the number of passengers is expected to rise sharply on Friday night (September 1) and Saturday morning (September 2).

The corporation has asked transport companies to avoid increasing ticket prices, not carry passengers beyond the permitted number, and forbid drivers from drinking while on duty to avoid accidents.

Additionally, there will be round-the-clock security presence at bus stations to maintain law and order, the company said. 

National children’s forum opens in Hanoi

The fifth national children’s forum convened in Hanoi on August 24, gathering 200 children aged between 9 and 15 from 48 provinces and cities, the largest number of participants to date.

The young delegates spent the first session conveying their strong wishes to be protected from early marriage and abuse.

The forum lasts until August 26, with four key topics on violence against children, sexual abuse and early marriage, child labour, and abuse in cyberspace.

On the morning of August 26, participating children will join a dialogue with representatives from different State agencies and organisations.

Deputy Minister of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs Dao Hong Lan said the forum helps children’ voices be listened by authorities and gain feedback.

The first biennial forum took place in Hanoi in 2009.

Vietnam’s National Day celebrated in Malaysia, Tanzania

A ceremony was held in Malaysia’s capital city of Kuala Lumpur on August 24 to celebrate the 72nd anniversary of Vietnam’s National Day (September 2, 1945).

Vietnamese Ambassador to Malaysia Le Quy Quynh highlighted Vietnam’s achievements gained after over 30 years of the “Doi moi” (renewal) process and international integration.

Vietnam is now an open-door and dynamic economy with stable gross domestic product (GDP) growth of 6.4 percent over the past 15 years.

The Southeast Asian country is a reliable partner of over 180 countries as well as a responsible and active member of regional and international organisations and a popular destination of overseas investors and tourists.

Over the past 45 years, the relations between Vietnam and Malaysia have seen strong developments with the peak being the establishment of the bilateral strategic partnership in 2015.

The bilateral cooperation has been reinforced and expanded in various fields from politics, security, economics and labour to education and tourism, he said.

The two countries are focusing on implementing an action plan for 2017-2019 to realise the signed bilateral strategic partnership agreement, he added.

The Ambassador said Vietnam and Malaysia have many opportunities to elevate their relations to a new height in the coming time.

As members of ASEAN, the two countries will push ahead with comprehensive cooperation and implement the ASEAN Community’s targets in addition to boosting coordination at regional and international forums for peace, stability and development, he noted.

The same day, a celebration of Vietnam’s National Day and the 50th founding anniversary of ASEAN was held in Tanzania.

Vietnamese Ambassador to Tanzania Nguyen Kim Doanh described ASEAN as a dynamic association and indispensible partner of the international community.

ASEAN is now the sixth biggest economy in the world with a common market of over 600 million people. In 2016, the bloc’s GDP reached 2.6 trillion USD and its economic growth hit 4.6 percent.

Addressing the event, Tanzanian Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment Charles John Poul Mwijage recalled his good impression of Vietnam’s development during his visit to the country in late July and early August.

Tanzania wants to learn experience from Vietnam in national building and economic development, he said.

Tanzania also considers Vietnam a reliable partner in Southeast Asia and hopes to boost the bilateral comprehensive cooperation, he added.

Cuban leader extends sympathy over losses in recent floods

First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba Central Committee, President of the Council of State and the Council of Ministers of Cuba Raul Castro Ruz has sent messages of sympathy to Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong, President Tran Dai Quang and Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc over heavy losses in recent floods in northern mountainous provinces. 

The Cuban leader also expressed his sympathy to families of victims and those affected by the natural disasters. 

According to the Central Steering Committee for Natural Disaster Prevention and Control, since the beginning of August, heavy rains and subsequent flashfloods have claimed the lives of 34 people and left 11 others missing. 

The floods also swept away and collapsed 231 houses, damaged 245 houses, submerged 338.5 hectares of rice, and made 398 households leave their homes to safer places.

They also blew away over 25,000 cubic metres of national roads, 117,706 cubic metres of provincial and district roads; damaged 145 irrigation works and 2,072 metres of river dike, causing about over 940 billion VND (41.36 million USD) in economic losses in the provinces.