PM okays exceptions for Hanoi railway

A section of Hanoi’s Cat Linh-Ha Dong urban railway project that crosses Hoang Cau Lake.

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has approved a special mechanism for completion of Hanoi’s Cat Linh-Ha Dong urban railway project in an effort to overcome numerous delays and cost overruns.

Under the mechanism, proposed by the Ministry of Transport, the main contractor (China Railway Sixth Group) will be authorised to make decisions, especially on buying equipment, without having to seek time-consuming permission from State authorities. However, the contractor must ensure that prices do not exceed those set out in the signed contract.

The project was supposed to be completed by the end of this year. However, only 74 percent of the railway project has been completed since it broke ground in September 2010, according to the project’s management unit.

The investment in the project increased from a projected 542 million USD in 2008 to 892 million USD in 2014.

Regarding the selection of foreign contractors for safety assessments, the Prime Minister has agreed in principle that contractors will be chosen in accordance with Article 26 of the Law on Bidding, ensuring that selected contractors are qualified, have adequate experience and meet the requirements of the tender package.

On additional loans for the project, the Ministry of Planning and Investment and the Ministry of Finance were urged to promptly work with the Chinese side on reaching agreement on supplement preferential loans for the project.

The Prime Minister asked the Ministry of Transport to review the preparation and implementation of the project as a lesson for the next steps of the project and other projects to ensure the efficiency, quality assurance and construction progress.

Vietnam-Egypt Cultural Exchange Week begins

The Vietnam-Egypt Cultural Week kicked off on July 21 in El Gouna city, a tourist resort in the Red Sea Governorate of Egypt.

The opening ceremony included the screening of videos, a photo exhibition, a book and material display to introduce Vietnam’s culture, country and people as well as outstanding socio-economic achievements in 30 years of reform.

The highlight of the opening ceremony was the water puppet show “Isis Osiris”, which was adapted from the “Isis Osiris” myth of Egypt, and is a cooperation product between the two countries’ cultural sectors.

It tells an ancient story in the Egyptian myth with sainted animals and characters vividly reconstructed by materials and distinctive colours of Vietnam’s unique water puppetry art.

The show, the first in Egypt in particular and the Middle East in general, was performed by artists from the Cairo Puppet Theatre, leaving a strong impression on Egyptian audiences.

Vietnam’s Ambassador to Egypt Do Hoang Long stressed the Vietnam-Egypt Cultural Exchange Week is special as Egyptian artists used Vietnam’s water puppetry art to convey their culture and history.

The exchange activity brought Vietnamese and Egyptian people closer, Long said, adding that the embassy will also conduct economic promotion activities with a view to promoting bilateral trade.

He told the Cairo-based Vietnam News Agency correspondent that he will work hard for the establishment of a pair relationship between central Da Nang city and the Red Sea Governorate since both boast huge marine tourism potential.

The Week, organised by Vietnam’s Embassy in Egypt in collaboration with the Red Sea Governorate, will last until July 26.

Workshop enhances midwifery services

The role of midwives in reproductive health care was the focus of discussion of a workshop in the central city of Hue on July 21.

The event, organised by the Vietnamese Association of Midwives (VAM), saw the participation of 300 domestic and foreign delegates.

VAM President Phan Thi Hanh attached significance to the role of midwives in the medical system, saying that they are the key staff in caring for maternal and infant health, particularly in remote areas.

Deputy Director of the Department of Maternal and Children’s Health under the Health Ministry stressed the need for enhancing clinical skills for midwives in a bid to minimise the rate of infant and maternal mortality.

It is necessary to have special support policies for midwives, especially those working in areas inhabited by ethnic minorities, he noted.

Some 70 percent of Vietnamese women living in rural areas so they often face complications during their pregnancy or baby delivery due to a poor understanding of reproductive health care

Figures show that since 1990, the global rate of infant and maternal mortality has halved. Currently, some 800 women die of pregnancy or delivery-related causes everyday around the world; and nearly three million newborns die in the first week of their life for lack of adequate daily medical care, particularly in developing nations.

Promoting cooperation between Okinawa and Vietnam localities

A Vietnam delegation led by Ambassador to Japan Nguyen Quoc Cuong has visited Okinawa Prefecture, Japan, to seek further cooperation opportunities between the prefecture and Vietnam localities.

At a meeting with the Vietnamese ambassador, Okinawa Governor Onaga Takeshi introduced him to the prefecture’s socio-economic development and said Okinawa is Japan’s gateway to Southeast Asia.

He said Vietnam is a friendly country with a dynamic economy which shares many cultural similarities with Japan, Okinawa attaches much importance to enhance multilateral cooperation with Vietnam.

Ambassador Cuong in turn expressed his wish to boost cooperation between Vietnam localities and Okinawa in tourism, agriculture, support industry and handicrafts that are Okinawa’s strength.

He urged the prefecture leaders to enable local businesses to receive more Vietnam trainees and facilitate the life and work of Vietnamese residents and students there.

During his visit to Okinawa on July 18-20, Ambassador Cuong met and compare notes with some Okinawa business leaders and policy researchers on socio-economic development and Vietnam’s deeper international integration.

The Okinawa-Vietnam Friendship Association held its annual congress on this occasion.

Addressing the congress, Ambassador Cuong sincerely thanked Okinawa friends for their support for Vietnam in the past war and activities and programs to spur economic and cultural exchanges with Vietnam in recent years.

Exhibition celebrates 49th birthday of ASEAN

This August 8th marks the 49th birthday of the formation of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), an important milestone for the rapidly expanding relationship among the member states.

The anniversary offers us an opportunity to reflect on the evolution of ASEAN relations and consider new ideas and initiatives to strengthen, enrich and deepen our future, says the Ministry of Information and Communications.

To celebrate the event, the Ministry in collaboration with the Thua Thien Hue Department of Information and Communicationsis organizing an exhibition that will celebrate ASEANs history to date.

The exhibition will run in Hue from July 28th to August 1st, inclusive, and showcase more than 300 photos, and nearly 100 news reports and other documents that tell of significant events and track ASEANs history to date.

We hope that the project will be an important and useful contribution to strengthening the cultural and ties of friendship among ASEAN members, says the Ministry, as well as be a valuable public-diplomacy, research and education resource.

Sport Festival 2016 of Vietnamese students in RoK

The qualified round of the 9th Annual Sport Festival 2016 of Vietnamese Students in Korea (VSAK2016) recently took place in the Central Korea at Hannam University.

“This is the first time such a big sport festival has been held in the Central Korea. We faced difficulties in organizing and managing. However, with the support from VSAK, we tried our best in facilitating the competitors so that they can achieve their best results,” said Tran Thien Quang, Vice Chairman of the Vietnamese Student Association at Hannam University.  

The qualified round in the north was excitedly held at Gachon University. “The matches occurred in great competitiveness and strains, yet retained the spirit of fair play, which is typical among Vietnamese students. In addition, the high and relatively equal professionalism among the teams shows that they had well prepared and invested largely in training. Therefore, we may hold high expectation for a stimulating and attractive final round of VSAK2016”, said Nguyen Pham Anh Thi, member of the Organizing Board at Gachon University.  

The qualified round in the south is expected to be held on July 24 on 2016 at Uiduk University while the final round will be organized on July 30-31 at Dongguk University.

The highlight of the final round will be the “Vietnamese-Korean Cultural Exchange Night,” with the participation of representatives from the Vietnamese Embassy in Korea, sponsors and the host university.

The cultural exchange will present stirring K-Pop performances by Korean students at Dongguk University, the host university, and exciting performances by Vietnamese students.

“We do believe that this is a helpful environment to strengthen the relationship among Vietnamese students in Korea," said Mr Do Hoang Minh, head of the Sport and Culture Commission of VSAK.

The 9th VSAK2016 is the one of the biggest events, which is co-organized by Vietnamese Students Association in Korea (VSAK) and Kumho E&C under the sponsorship of the Vietnamese Embassy in the Republic of Korea (RoK). It includes many competitions such as soccer, badminton, table tennis, and athletics.

Former vice director of PVFI branch faces charges

HCM City police yesterday charged former vice director of the HCM City branch of PetroVietnam Finance Investment Joint Stock Company (PVFI) Vũ Thị Hồng Lan with abuse of power.

Lan, 38, of northern Thái Nguyên Province and living in HCM City’s District 1, was suspected of colluding with the chief accountant of Industrial Securities, Nguyễn Xuân Trường, to create securities accounts for trading PVFI stocks.

Their deals caused losses of VNĐ4 billion (US$180,000) for PVFI. The sum was used to repay debts that Lan and others at PVFI had accumulated after losing money on a bad stock investment.

Trường, 38, of northern Hải Dương Province and living in HCM City, was arrested yesterday under the same charge.

Lan is out on bail because she is nursing small children.

Police are expanding their investigation to identify the involvement of the two companies, PVFI and Industrial Securities.

Hanoi cracks down on smuggling via aviation, delivery service

The Hanoi Customs Department has taken measures to crack down on smuggling activities in the remaining months of this year with special attention given to air transport and international delivery services.

The department has asked its divisions in charge of Noi Bai International Airport, the delivery service, and smuggling control units to draw up plans to fight smuggling activities and trade fraud.

It also called for ministries and relevant sectors to coordinate in examining and supervising export and import goods, cross-border transport vehicles, immigration, transit and luggage at seaports, internal water ports, stations along international railways and airports.

At the same time, work to improve the effectiveness of state management on customs services at Noi Bai International Airport will be stepped up, including the installation of supervision cameras and comprehensive checks of warehouses.

The Hanoi Customs Department said smuggling and the transportation of banned goods, especially drugs, is getting complicated with 607 cases of law violations discovered since the beginning of this year.

Some notable cases included the seizure of 46kg of elephant tusks on January 29 and 248kg of pangolin scales on April 11, both at Noi Bai Airport.

In addition, a trans-border drug smuggling ring was uncovered recently, involving the sending of 2.1 tonnes of Khat leaves which contain cathinone, a strong narcotic, via international post.

Software to ensure health insurance for HIV patients

An electronic health information system (eHIS) with the aims to help people living with HIV/AIDS get more benefits from social health insurance has been developed in the northern Dien Biên Province’s Tuan Giao District Healthcare Centre.

The system-part of the Sustainable Management of HIV/AIDS Response and Transition to Technical Assistance project launched by the Vietnamese government and the United States Agency for International Development (USAIDS) is an integration of an HIV module and medical records of people with HIV/AIDS, according to project officials.

The HIV software module allows the district healthcare centre to easily track and request reimbursement for HIV patient examinations and services.

After three months of implementing the project, the district healthcare centre reported it had received more than VNÐ22.7 million (US$1,000) as reimbursement from the health insurance fund for HIV patient examinations.

The centre said it was managing 467 HIV patients through the eHIS, allowing doctors to make better decisions by providing easy access to medical records of patients such as clinic assessments, test results and treatment for both infections and HIV.

The software was expected to be fine-tuned and implemented across Dien Bien Province and the central Nghe An Province, according to project official.

Tran Duc Long , director of the Tuan Giao District Healthcare Centre, on Thursday said at a workshop on sharing experiences on social health insurance for HIV patients that local people living with HIV/AIDS were poor and faced many difficulties such as lack of transportation to travel long distances to healthcare centres for treatment or lack of health insurance. Social health insurance coverage of HIV services was their social security, he said.

The eHIS has greatly helped to revolutionise local healthcare service procedures, Long said.

“Healthcare providers such as us can now monitor patients better, request reimbursement from social health insurance, and process detailed patient reports with a single click. For patients, it means we have more time to care for them and can do so more quickly and effectively as making patient records are instantly accessible,” Long said.

Do The Nhan, director of the care and treatment department at the Vi?t Nam authority for HIV/AIDS control under the health ministry, said the project by USAIDS helped health centres use electronic health information systems for treatment and programme reporting.

This would help to ensure the sustainability of the HIV programme, given the upcoming funding cuts, and also strengthen their ability to evaluate the effectiveness and ongoing quality of treatment programmes, she said.

Trainer urges video use in English classes

A teacher trainer for the Cambridge University Press urged teachers attending a conference in HCM City yesterday to harness the power of technology, especially the use of video, in the classroom.

Gavin J. Biggs, who is also a senior learning consultant for Greater China for Cambridge University Press, said that videos engaged learners by using humour and making classes more memorable.

Biggs spoke at the Việt Nam-USA Society English Centres’ annual Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) conference, whose theme this year was ‘Eclecticism in English Language Teaching in the Post-Methods Era’.

“It’s imperative that we tap into what learners are watching online and use video as a medium for learning,” he said, adding that video was far more than just an easy way to engage students with topics.

All of the presentations and discussion sessions centred around a conceptual approach that does not hold rigidly to a single methodology but instead draws upon multiple pedagogical theories, styles and ideas to promote learning in particular teaching contexts.

Monika Ekiert of LaGuardia Community College, which is part of City University of New York, spoke about the effectiveness of theme-based approaches that encourage students to use the language they are learning as a real means of communication.

With theme-based instruction, teachers create lessons or courses based on students’ interests, with content chosen from a pool of diverse themes.

About 2,000 teachers attended the conference, according to the organisers.

Belgium’s 185th National Day marked in Hanoi

Belgian diplomats and businessmen in Vietnam and Vietnamese alumni in Belgium attended a friendship gathering in Hanoi on July 21 to celebrate the 185th National Day of Belgium (July 21, 1831).

The event was organised by the Vietnam-Belgium Friendship Association (VBFA) and the Belgian Embassy in Vietnam.

Addressing the event, VBFA Vice President Bui Anh Tuan said the Vietnam-Belgium relations have been tightened through high-level visits and in multiple fields, for example, development cooperation, economy, education and culture.

The gathering offered an opportunity for those who love Belgium to meet, share information and seek business partnership, he said, noting that it would help strengthen the friendship between the two countries’ government and people.

He revealed that the VBFA will organise a Vietnam-Belgium painting exhibition and establish a club for Vietnamese and Belgian businessmen in the second half of this year.

Belgian Ambassador to Vietnam Jehanne Roccas highlighted the economic ties between the two nations, saying that the two-way trade has been on the rise in recent years with Belgium being the sixth largest exporter and the eighth biggest buyer of Vietnam in the European Union.

Education and training cooperation is a success story as about 2,000 Vietnamese studied in Belgium and another 2,000 graduated from an integrated educational programme partnered with Belgium’s Solvay Brussels School of Economics and Management in Vietnam, she said.

Hanoi wants to work with Rome in heritage preservation

Hanoi wants to receive Italy’s assistance in culture, heritage preservation and tourism development, stated Ngo Thi Thanh Hang, Permanent Vice Secretary of the Hanoi Party Committee, at her reception for Italian Ambassador to Vietnam Cecilia Piccioni on July 21.

Hang shared with the guest that Hanoi boasts a lot of cultural heritage, including internationally-recognised ones. Therefore, the city plans to promote the heritage’s values as a tourist draw.

She expressed her delight at strong cooperation between Hanoi and Rome as well as between Vietnam and Italy, hoping that the relations will be consolidated in the time ahead.

The Italian diplomat, in turn, noted her hope that the relations between the two capital cities and the two countries will be lifted to a new height.

Lam Dong aims to lower poverty rate to 1.9 percent by 2020

The Central Highlands province of Lam Dong is set to reduce its poverty rate to less than 1.9 percent, in particular the rate of poor households in ethnic minority areas to under 4.8 percent by 2020.

It will also strive to facilitate the poor’s access to fundamental social services such as health care, education, housing, clean water and sanitation.

Over the last five years, the local authorities have taken specific measures and implemented a series of projects to rapidly realise the province’s goal of sustainable poverty reduction.

Projects funded by the Government also contributed to increasing investment for the effort, thus reducing the rate of poor households.

The implementation of a sustainable poverty reduction programme in the period helped the local people escape from poverty, significantly contributing to the locality’s socio-economic development.

According to Deputy Director of the provincial Department of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs Ngo Huu Hay, the number of local poor households reduced from 34, 578 in 2011 to only 5,236 in 2015, down 2.17 percent per year on average.

To date, a total of 1.3 million local poor and near-poor households, including those from ethnic minority groups, have been provided with medical insurance, while over 16,270 poor families were supported to build houses.

Along with poverty reduction projects, the locality also paid special attention to new-style rural development programmes, with over 33 trillion VND (1.48 billion USD) being mobilised to build infrastructure facilities and develop production.

With over 511 billion VND invested for upgrading and developing infrastructure in poor districts, communes and villages across the locality; many projects for education, transport and healthcare have become operational, helping improve living conditions for local people.

By the end of 2015, the province had 43 communes recognised as new-style rural areas, and Don Duong district was recognised as a new-style rural district.

Defence ministry linked to national OSS customs portal

A connection between the national one-stop-shop (OSS) customs portal and the portal of the Defence Ministry was launched at a ceremony in Hanoi on July 21, bringing benefits in administrative management, trade fraud prevention and national security and sovereignty safeguarding.

Addressing the event, Deputy Prime Minister Vuong Dinh Hue said the Defence Ministry is the tenth among 14 ministries to have linked with the national portal, which is working to process 34 administrative procedures.

The connection between the two portals will help ensure consistence in handling administrative procedures at border stations and border gates, he noted.

It contributes to expanding the application of the OSS mechanism at seaports nationwide, facilitating the Defence Ministry’s processing of procedures related to export-import goods and means of transport, he added.

This is also part of efforts to better the business climate and improve national competitiveness, towards further simplifying administrative procedure, he stressed.

By 2020, all the administrative procedures concerning State management for export-import goods, passengers and vehicles are set to be processed through online public services within the national OSS customs mechanism, so as to make Vietnam take the lead in ASEAN in terms of the time for customs clearance, the deputy PM said.

The Defence Ministry was asked to direct the Border Guard High Command and relevant agencies to continue expanding administrative procedure services related to the ministry’s functions, towards applying all 13 administrative procedures of the Ministry nationwide by 2030.

According to Deputy Commander and Chief of Staff of the Border Guard High Command Major General Nguyen Van Nam, up to seven border gates and seaports have connected to the national OSS customs portal so far.

These received 2,864 customs declarations, and processed customs clearance for 1,864 vehicles, 33,379 sailors, and 680 passengers from April 29-May 30.

All businesses operating in sea transportation can complete entry and exit formalities and those related to sea vessels in transit, as well as access freight information at the national one-stop-shop customs portal www.vnsw.gov.vn.

HCM City dominate national junior chess tournament

HCM City topped the medal table at the National Junior Chess Tournament, which ended in the central coastal city of Đà Nẵng on July 20.

The team won 19 gold, 20 silver and 19 bronze medals. Hà Nội came second with seven gold, 10 silver and 10 bronze medals. The Military team was placed third with six gold, two silver and three bronze medals.

The players competed in eight age groups for 128 sets of medals during the 13-day tournament.

Mangrove expansion protects lagoon from climate change

More than 3,000 mangrove saplings were planted in the environs of Lap An Lagoon in the central province of Thua Thien-Hue on July 16-17 in response to climate change.

The project, sponsored by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), drew the participation of nearly 100 students from Hue University of Agriculture and Forestry and local fishermen.

Lap An is an 1,655-hectare brackish water lagoon located in Lang Co town, Phu Loc district. About 300 hectares of mangrove forests to the west and the east of the lagoon have degraded over time due to the impacts of climate change.

The expansion of mangrove forests in the lagoon will help protect the coastal area and increase alluvial soil deposits, benefiting the development of local economy.

It was the third planting of mangroves in the lagoon since the beginning of 2016, raising the total mangroves grown here to 10,000, said Chairman of the Phu Loc district People’s Committee Nguyen Van Manh.

Prior to the project, the People’s Committee of Lang Co town has implemented a programme to manage and restore community-based mangrove forests in Lang Co Lagoon.

It aimed at conserving the ecosystem and enriching aquatic resources in the lagoon with a total investment of 500 million VND (22,420 USD).

Safety risk on Nghệ An waterways

Lack of means of transportation, inadequate infrastructure, weak management of local authorities and low awareness on waterway transport regulations of ship owners and passengers in the central province of Nghệ An are threatening the lives of hundred of passengers who travel on this mode of transportation every day.

As the biggest wharf in Đô Lương District, the Cung wharf accommodates dozens of vessels a day. However, most passengers aboard didn’t wear life jackets as regulated by the government, reported a Vietnam News Agency correspondent.

Lê Kim Lưu, from Thanh Chương District’s Phong Thịnh Commune, said he often traveled on this route but was rarely asked to wear a lifejacket.

Nguyễn Văn Long, a ship owner, blamed the hot weather for passengers not wearing them. Besides, some passengers were confident that they could swim so they wouldn’t drown, Long said.

Violations on waterway transport regulations were also reported at other wharves along the Lam River which pass through Thanh Chương, Đô Lương, Anh Sơn districts.

The violations involved many vehicles not meeting safety standards and boat captains were not qualified to operate the vehicles, lack of safety equipment as well as the price was not publicised for the public.

In addition, the infrastructure and signal systems at many wharves did not meet standards set by authorities.

Statistics from Nghệ An Province’s Transport Department inspectors showed that just 16 out of 25 wharves authorised by local districts have their licences.

Nguyễn Viết Hùng, an official from the provincial Department of Transport, said operations at many wharves in the province were at risk because many of them were operating illegally without meeting safety standards or being downgraded.

Only 70 vessels using these wharves have licences, he said.

To ensure the safety of passengers, the province’s Department of Transport has proposed that local authorities strengthen the supervision of wharves’ activities.

Accordingly, owners of wharves whose licences are still in effect, will have to repair their equipment to ensure that they are effective. Those with invalid licences will have to apply for a new one while upgrading their equipment, otherwise they will have to temporarily cease operations.

The provincial authority has asked localities to warn their vessels not to carry more than the number of passengers allowed.

Passengers aboard must always be outfitted with life jackets and drivers must have professional training and driving licences, said Võ Minh Đức, head of Traffic Safety Office of Nghệ An Province.

Local authorities must uphold their responsibilities for managing vehicles, drivers as well as wharves. The awareness of local residents on following waterway traffic regulation should be improved.  

Besides, it was necessary for localities to have detailed plans and call for investment in building bridges at places which have high demand for transportation, Đức said.

Hanoians travel increasingly in summer

The number of people buying summer tours has increased significantly recently, with travel operators launching new tours to attract customers, according to Hà Nội-based travel firms.

Due to the hot weather, tours to beaches are very popular, with northern beaches like Hạ Long, Cát Bà and Sầm Sơn being the favourites this year.

Central and southern beach towns like Đà Nẵng, Chu Lai, Lý Sơn Island, Quy Nhơn, Phú Yên, Nha Trang, Mũi Né, and Phú Quốc are also popular.

Many have opted for overseas tours.

Phạm Bich Ngọc, deputy director of Vietrantour, said popular foreign destinations include children’s favourites like Disneyland in Hong Kong, Universal Studio in Singapore and Everland in South Korea.

Many are also visiting the US, Europe and Russia.

New railway service from HCM City to Tuy Hoà opens

A new railway route linking HCM City with Tuy Hoà (also called the City of Yellow Flowers) was launched by Sài Gòn Railway Co. on July 19.

The new trains SNT6 and SNT9 will take 12 to 15 hours to travel from the two cities. It starts AT Sài Gòn Railway Station at 21.25 and arrive at Tuy Hoà Station at 17.25 the following day.

They new trains will stop to pick up passengers at the railway stations of Biên Hoà, Bình Thuận, Tháp Chàm, Nha Trang, Ninh Hoà, Cà Ná and Ninh Thuận.

One way ticket of the HCM City – Tuy Hoà trains will range from VNĐ253,000 to VNĐ907,000 depending on seat categories.

The company has also suspended the SNT3 train on Nha Trang – HCM City route.

Vietnam conjoined twins die week after birth

A pair of twin boys who were conjoined at chest and abdomen died on July 21, around one week after they were born in the northern province of Ha Giang, local media have reported.

The babies, who were named Ban Van Trung and Ban Van Duong, died, even as local doctors planned to perform a separation surgery in five-six months when they would become stronger, Tuoi Tre newspaper said.

Weighing 4.9 kilograms in total, they shared a heart and a liver, and one of them had defected intestine, it said, citing doctors at Hanoi's Viet Duc Hospital, where the babies were transferred to for a better treatment.

With such conditions, their chances of survival were reportedly deemed very small.

Previously local media quoted Ha Giang's doctors as saying that the boys had separate hearts and lungs.

Around VND300 million (US$13,200) was raised for the babies, who were born to a poor couple in Ha Giang's distant district of Vi Xuyen, according to Tuoi Tre.

Novel therapy may help cure colon cancer

An emerging cancer therapy has colon tumours surrounded and holds great promise for a cure of the deadly and debilitating disease, say medical personnel at the University Medical Centre in Ho Chi Minh City.

On July 21 the Centre announced breakthroughs in the use of infrared laparoscopy with indocyanine green (ICG), a cyanine dye used in medical diagnostics, that has markedly increased the efficiency of treating the disease.

In many cases this new therapy developed by Vietnamese researchers, approved by the Ministry of Health and only currently available in Vietnam has resulted in complete remission of the cancer.

Colon cancer is one of the leading causes of death in Vietnam, says the Centre, with the number of patients diagnosed with the disease having risen significantly over the past decade.

However, with this new novel treatment all that may change during our lifetime.

Customs officer suspended as Vietnam probes logging of protected wood

A senior customs officer in Quang Nam Province in central Vietnam has been suspended pending an investigation into a massive case of illegal logging on his watch.

The local police said they seized more than 50 cubic meters of rare wood logged in protected forests on the Laos border, including nearly seven cubic meters found at the customs office at the Nam Giang border gate.

Le Trung Thinh, the office head, has been suspended for failing to report the wood or prove its legal origin.

The investigation began after some locals found logs of Fujian cypress trees hidden near a border guard station on July 9.

Officials said they are expanding the probe and would likely find more wood.

Fujian cypress is a threatened species in Vietnam, where it is considered valuable due to its aroma and exceptional weight. It is used to make art works, furniture, and charcoal.

Central Vietnam has reported the most cases of deforestation in the country, with a number of forest rangers and managers axed or demoted this year for letting the crime occur.

Nguyen Duc Luyen, vice chairman of Dak Nong Province in the Central Highlands, had said at a conference last year that Vietnam is unable to stop deforestation since illegal logging is either condoned or overlooked by authorities.

Hanoi starts construction on park in Cau Giay

Construction on a park and lake began in Cau Giay district, Hanoi, on July 22, as part of a plan to build 25 parks across the city between 2016 and 2020.

Speaking at the ground-breaking ceremony on July 22, Chairman of the municipal People’s Committee Nguyen Duc Chung said it is the third construction after similar ones in Mai Dich and Nhan Chinh wards, towards the goal of planting an additional 1 million trees during the period.

The project, in the CV1 land area between Nam Tu Liem and Cau Giay districts, is built in the build-transfer model at a total cost of 938 billion VND (42.6 million USD).

Once completed in late 2018, the park will feature a 19ha lake surrounded by 12.76ha of greenery and recreational areas.

Missing overseas Vietnamese woman found in HCM City

An overseas Vietnamese woman who went missing in the central Danang City has been found in HCM City.

On July 21, a local found Nguyen Kim Hue, born in 1982, wandering on HCM City's streets in a daze. Her answers for every questions is 'I don't know' so she was led her to police.

A relative who is living in HCM City confirmed Hue's identity. Because it looks like Hue is suffering from memory loss, her parents, who are still in Danang, were unable to talk with her on the phone. Hue's parents then booked tickets to fly to HCM City.

Hue and her parents returned to Vietnam from Denmark to attend a sister's wedding on June 25.

On July 18, Hue and three siblings went to Con Market in Danang to buy souvenirs before she had to return to Denmark tomorrow. According to Hue's sister, they went to buy coffee together and stood next to each other. But when she paid for the coffee and turned around, Hue had disappeared.

They tried to call Hue and the phone rang but no one picked up. They lost contact with her completely after that. The surveillance camera at the market showed that Hue suddenly walked straight into the inner section of the market.

"We may know what happened when her parents arrive at HCM City and Hue regains a better understanding of things,” the relative said.

Hà Nội’s health department launches hotlines

The city’s Health Department launched three hotlines this morning to receive feedback from people and organisations.

Hotline 0439985765 will receive feedback about general health issues, 0437343622 will explain administrative procedures in the department’s one-stop section and 0439902390 will accept feedback about the performance of the one-stop section.

Director of the Health Department Nguyễn Khắc Hiền said the department expected to get feedback via the hotlines so that they could improve their performance, offering friendly services to users and for the benefit of the people.

The department plans to offer online public services of level three in the next few months, in which administrative procedures can be publicised, and forms submitted, received and processed online. With online public services of level four, fees for services can be paid online.

In the first half of this year, the city’s health department granted more than 19,000 medical practice licences and almost 3,000 business licences to private healthcare providers.

The department also granted more than 7,000 licences for pharmacy practice and 6,400 business licences to drug stores.

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