Deputy PMs visit revolutionary contributors ahead of martyrs’ day

Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam visited and presented gifts to national revolutionary contributors in the Central Highland province of Kon Tum on July 24 on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the War Invalids and Martyrs Day (July 27, 1947).

He and his entourage visited Heroic Mother Y Noi, whose only son, A Dinh, had fallen in the fight against the US troops.

The official took this occasion to offer incense at the cemetery in Ngoc Hoi district, the resting place of over 1,300 soldiers fallen in the country’s resistance wars and volunteer soldiers who sacrificed their lives in Laos and Cambodia.

He also attended a ceremony to inaugurate a memorial stele of fallen soldiers in the 1968 and 1972 campaigns.

The same day, Standing Deputy Prime Minister Truong Hoa Binh offered incense and laid wreaths at the Vietnamese heroic mother’s statue in Tam Ky city, central Quang Nam province.

Quang Nam is home to the largest number of national contributors, with 65,400 fallen soldiers, over 30,500 war invalids, and nearly 15,000 Vietnamese heroic mothers with  914 still alive.

Also on July 24, the southern province of Kien Giang held a ceremony to commemorate soldiers who laid down their lives in Phu Quoc prison – the largest of its kind in the south in the wartime with over 40,000 revolutionaries suffering from brutal torture. 

Charity concert for Vietnamese child heart patients held in Russia

The Hanoi-Moscow Multifunctional Complex and some Vietnamese businesses in Russia co-organised a charity concert in Moscow, Russia to raise fund for children with heart disease in Vietnam.

All the proceedings of the event, including 30,000 USD of ticket money and over 600,000 ruble (10,000 USD) raised by audiences, will be used for treatment of 20 children under the “Hearts for Kids”, a heart operation programme.

The event, the first of its kinds held overseas, is expected to provide financial aid to disadvantaged children with heart disease and inspire philanthropists to continue supporting the programme, said Associate Professor - Doctor Nguyen Lan Hieu, Deputy Director of Hanoi Medical University, who will receive and deliver the donations to the “Hearts for Kids” fund.

According to data of the World Health Organisation, Vietnam has nearly 45,000 under-six heart patients, of whom 60 percent have disadvantaged background. Among 8,000 to 10,000 children with congenital heart disease, a half of them are in need of immediate operations.

Quang Nam to build $26.5m railway flyover

The central province of Quảng Nam plans to build a railway flyover at one of the busiest crossroads on National Highway No 1A, in Núi Thành District.

Head of the provincial Party Secretariat, Nguyễn Hồng Quang, told Việt Nam News that the province will submit a detailed project plan to the Transport Ministry soon.

Work on the VNĐ600 billion (US$26.5 million) flyover could start later this year and open to traffic next year, he said.

The flyover will help ease heavy congestion at the intersection of the North-South Highway No 1A, railway line, Tam Hiệp Port and the Chu Lai-Trường Hải Industrial Complex.

The crossroad section is used by more than 9,000 workers and vehicles from the Chu Lai-Trường Hải Industrial Complex as well as numerous vehicles that traverse the national highway and railway systems.

Quảng Nam also plans to upgrade National Highway No 40B that links its Tam Kỳ City to Tắc Pỏ in Nam Trà My district even as it builds key routes linking strategic economic zones, ports and airports in the central and Central Highlands regions.

It completed the upgrade and expansion of a 27.7-km section of National Highway 1A in 2015.

Farmers lose billions as rains kill fish

Hundreds of tonnes of fish raised in the rivers of Phú Thọ, Phú Yên and Bình Thuận provinces died recently because of floodwater discharge and changes in water quality.

Around 350 of the 1,000 tonnes of fish that were being bred in the stretch of Đà River in the northern province of Phú Thọ had died by Saturday, accroding to intitial statistics from Phú Thọ Province’s fishery department.

As a result, households in Thanh Thủy and Thanh Sơn districts have incurred losses worth billions of đồng, as per estimates made by the province’s sub-department of fisheries, local media reported.

Out of the 200 affected fish cages in the two districts, 133 cages lost all fish. The remaining 67 cages lost 30 to 70 per cent of the fish.

The incident reportedly occurs following the Hòa Bình hydropower plant discharging floodwater to its reservoir last Tuesday. 

Farmer Dương Tiến Dũng from Thanh Thủy District’s Xuân Lộc Commune said Đà River started flowing faster and changing from a clear green to opaque red on Tuesday night. 

By Thursday, the fish had started becoming disoriented and breathing through their mouths, and died, he said. 

The central Phú Yên Province on Sunday reported that 40 to 80 per cent of grouper and red tilapia fish being raised in 400 cages in Ô Loan lagoon had died. Provincial authorities had collected water samples from the lagoon for investigation.

Farmers in the area are trying to save the remaining fish by reducing the number of fish in each cage and bathing them in cold water, but so far, it does not seem to have helped much.

Also on Sunday, the People’s Committee of Đồng Phú District in the southern Bình Phước Province reported that 90 per cent of the fish being bred by 40 households in Suối Giai Lake had died. Farmer Trần Văn Nhu from the district’s Tân Lập Commune is among the worst hit, having lost five tonnes of mature redtail catfish, worth half a billion đồng.

The mash fish death was likely caused by high levels of aluminium and lack of oxygen in the water as a result of heavy, continuous rainfall, the commune’s People’s Committee said.

Many farmers have been forced to sell their fish at much lower prices because of the mass deaths.

Majority of the affected farmers in these provinces hail from poor households and have borrowed money from banks to breed fish.

Further investigations are underway.

Authorities dismiss concerns about cracks in Vietnam's Hai Van Tunnel

Work has begun on an effort to expand an emergency tunnel that runs beneath the Hai Van Pass in central Vietnam.

Vietnam’s road authorities recently announced that cracks found in the arch of the Hai Van Tunnel do not pose a threat to vehicles.

The fractures appeared due to the expansion of the tunnel’s concrete walls.

The 6.2 kilometer tunnel ranks as the largest in the region and opened to traffic in June 2005 linking Da Nang City to Thua Thien Hue Province, according to the Directorate for Roads of Vietnam.

The Hai Van Tunnel’s management board hired the Alpin Technik consultancy to inspect it in late 2015, the board’s director Do Van Nam told VnExpress.

The German consultancy found that just 2.5 percent of the cracks in the tunnel ceiling posed a threat to vehicles traveling through the tunnel, said Nam, who also directs the tunnel’s main investor, the Deo Ca Investment Joint Stock Company.

Deo Ca made repairs to the dangerous cracks and the ministry of transport appraised the company’s work, he said.

The same ministry gave Deo Ca permission to blast every day since March during construction of the Hai Van 2 Tunnel.

“We assure you the explosions have nothing to do with the cracks in the first tunnel,” he said.

The Hai Van Tunnel is 11.9 meters wide. The pathway that will become the Hai Van 2 is currently used for maintenance and emergencies; an increase in traffic inspired the plan to expand the it to 9.7 meters by 2020.

Man arrested for trying to overthrow the State

Police in the central province of Nghe An on July 24 arrested Le Dinh Luong on suspicion of conducting activities aiming at overthrowing the State.

An investigation indicated that Luong, born in 1965 in Nghe An’s Yen Thanh district, often organises activities which aim to overthrow the people’s administration and cause social instability in the locality.

He was arrested under Article 79 of the Penal Code.

Police are preparing to commence legal proceedings against him.

Vietnamese Ao dai shines on Argentinean magazine

Argentina’s Diplomatics News Network has published an article by Mirta Ayala, on “ao dai”, the Vietnamese traditional costume for men and women.

In her article, Mirta wrote that unlike the the Japanese kimono or Korean Hanbok, the Vietnamese ao dai is worn on various occasions such as weddings, lunar new year and international events as Vietnam’s national costume. It is also used in schools and offices as uniform.

Most Vietnamese women wear ao dai for the national costume event in beauty competitions, she added.

While men wear a loose ao dai, women choose tight-fitting ones which highlight their curves, the author wrote, adding that ao dai goes with comfortable, loose-fitting pants.

Ao dai is made from silk and decorated with different embroidered patterns and often goes with “non la” (palm-leaf conical hat) or turban, traditional Vietnamese accessories for men and women, the author wrote.

Doctors working at 89 percent of medical stations in Central Highlands

Nearly 89 percent of medical stations in Central Highlands localities have doctors, reported the regional Steering Committee.

According to the committee, Dak Lak and Kon Tum recorded the highest rate with 100 percent of medical stations employing doctors. 

Several localities have used support policies to attract medical workers, especially doctors, to work in communal-level medical stations in disadvantaged, remote and ethnic minority areas.

However, many newly-graduated doctors are reluctant to work there, as the region lacks medical facilities, infrastructure and doctors are poorly paid.

Synchronous measures needed to curb dengue fever outbreak

Drastic and synchronous measures are needed to control dengue fever outbreak in Vietnam, heard a teleconference on July 24.

Director of the Preventive Medicine Department under the Ministry of Health Tran Dac Phu said Vietnam has recorded an annual average of 50,000-100,000 dengue fever cases in recent years, with 50-100 fatalities.

In the first seven months of 2017, the country reported 58,888 cases. Of which, 50,496 were hospitalised, up 12.6 percent compared to the same period of 2016 and 17 deaths, up from 14.

At present, 61 cities and provinces have recorded dengue infections, mostly in Hanoi, Thanh Hoa, Quang Nam, Binh Duong, Tra Vinh and Tay Ninh, he said.

Given the situation, the health ministry has sent seven inspection teams to hotspots, launched campaigns to kill mosquito larva and opened treatment training courses for health workers, he added.

Minister of Health Nguyen Thi Kim Tien suggested increasing vigilance over diseases, including dengue fever, during and after the flood season.

The main priority now is raising public awareness of dengue prevention and keeping the living environment clean, she said.

Dengue fever is transmitted by mosquitoes carrying the virus. Its symptoms include high fever, headaches and joint aches, which can be confused with symptoms of other diseases.

The disease has potentially dangerous complications such as shock, respiratory failure, coagulation, liver damage and altered mental status, and can be fatal.

According to the World Health Organisation, dengue is spreading in many countries worldwide. Each year, worldwide, about 20 million people contract dengue and some 500,000 are hospitalised.

Taiwanese students born to Vietnamese mothers visit Vietnam

Thirty-six Taiwanese students who were born to Taiwanese fathers and Vietnamese mothers are on a visit to a number of factories invested by Taiwanese firms in the southern province of Binh Duong.

The Vietnam trip lasting until tomorrow is aimed at helping these students gain insight into the production processes of Taiwanese firms in Vietnam and at the same time learn about the Vietnamese language and culture of their mothers.

Last year 24 students attended a similar trip. After the trip, 18 of them showed interest in returning to Vietnam to work and learn Vietnamese. Therefore, this year Taiwanese authorities have continued the program to create opportunities for such Taiwanese students to explore the land where their mothers were born, and contribute to developing human resources for Taiwanese firms in the country.

HCMC urgently handles riverside, canal landslide spots

Standing deputy chairman of the city People’s Committee Le Thanh Liem has prompted agencies and district authorities to tackle riverside and canal landslide, which has been complicated recently, to prevent accidents from occurring and affecting residents’ lives.

Mr. Liem required the Department of Transport to work with the city’s Steering Committee on Natural Resources Prevention, Search and Rescue, agencies and districts to survey areas highly prone to landslide and propose solutions to protect residents’ lives and properties.

Before August 15, they should conduct surveys at 40 landslide spots, address problems while implementing counter landslide projects and put forward solutions to speed up their progress.

In addition, Mr. Liem wanted them to suggest a scientific study plan to ensure the city’s proactivity in coping with landslide in following phases.

The Department of Transport should work with its Inland Waterway Management Division to review the progress, capital, implementation mechanism and site clearance of 22 projects which the agency is investor.

They should estimate reasons for behind schedule projects and report solutions to speed them up. At least three projects should be done this year, the remaining ones must be completed next year.

Districts assigned to invest in 15 projects should focus on speeding up construction to soon open them for service.

The city People’s Committee required the Department of Planning and Investment, the Department of Transport and the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development to study regulations to implement a project to handle a landslide spot in Hiep Phuoc commune, Nha Be district and other urgent works with a specific mechanism. These agencies should guide investors to implement projects in line with current regulations and report to the city committee within ten working days.

The Department of Finance should coordinate with the Department of Planning and Investment to arrange sufficient capital anti landslide projects by 2020 and advance VND10 billion (US$440,000) to deal with fortify the right bank of Giong canal – Kinh Lo river. Districts should step up compensation and site clearance work before January 1 next year for investors to build the project in 2018.

Relating to a recent landslide in Tom canal, Nhon Duc commune, Nha Be district, Inland Waterway Management Division director Tran Van Giau said that right after the accident, the division has fortified the landslide spot and filled the eddy in the canal to prevent erosion from expanding as per instruction by the city People’s Committee.

Still continuous heavy rains have highly swollen the canal. Mr. Giau worried that landslide will recur when floodwater recedes. The Transport Department has assigned the division to study a project to build embankments in the area.

While waiting for the project’s implementation, the division has proposed Nhon Duc commune and Nha Be district authorities to work with relevant agencies to remove local households and their properties to safety, fence up the landslide area to prevent residents and vehicles from travelling through and keep a close eye on the situation to have solutions in a timely manner.

Chairman of Nha Be district’s People’s Committee Nguyen Van Luu said that the district has assisted affected households with rent within three months and temporarily relocated five households.

Hiep Phuoc commune has removed three households to new accommodations and assisted each household with VND50 million ($2,199) to build houses. Nha Be district has also arranged a resettlement area for 270 households affected by landslide and climate change in Hiep Phuoc commune. It is expected that 50 households will receive land plots and build houses in September.

Beauty salon suspended from operation after foreigner’s death

The Department of Health in Ho Chi Minh City and police yesterday worked with representative of Viet Thanh beauty salon about the death of a foreign man during an extra-skin removal operation at the beauty salon next day. 

Dr. Nguyen Viet Thanh who is in charge of the salon said that the victim is American national Edward Hartley, 53. Hartley had loose skin near his waist and back after losing some 18kg, so he visited the Viet Thanh beauty salon on Su Van Hanh Street in District 10 on July 19 for excess skin removal.

The surgeon performed the operation to remove his belly fat.

After conducting a check-up for the U.S. man in the morning, Dr. Thanh asked him to come back later for the operation. As scheduled, Hartley returned at 4:00 pm the same day for the surgery.

However, only around 15 minutes after receiving anesthesia, Dr. Thanh found out that the American patient started to show signs of vasodepressor, or the reduction of tone in blood vessels, resulting in lower blood pressure.

Doctor Thanh was quick to carry out emergency treatment to restore spontaneous blood circulation and breathing in the man along with calling for assistance from the nearby Trung Vuong Hospital.

20 minutes later, Trung Vuong doctors arrived at the beauty to provide intensive treatment yet all attempts to save Hartley were unrewarded. Then, the beauty salon informed the authorities after the patient was declared dead.

All medical records of the foreign man were kept by police for further probe.

Through checking, inspection from the Department of Health found that the Viet Thanh clinic was not licensed to perform excess skin removal.

Accordingly, the beauty salon was temporarily shut down, waiting for a conclusion on the death of Hartley.

Railway discounts tickets on Thong Nhat trains

Viet Nam Railway will discount seats in air conditioned cars on Thong Nhat trains from August 14-December 31.

Accordingly, passengers who buy tickets of trains No. SE1, SE2, SE4 over 20 days in advance will get 20%-50% discount. The discount program is applied for individual passengers travelling more than 1000 km and people under preferential treatment policy are war veterans, wounded soldiers, the elderly.

In addition, passengers traveling together in groups will  receive a discount of 6-12%.

The program aims to encourage people to travel during the off-season after summer

Government strives to reduce long lasting traffic jams in big cities

The Prime Minister has approved a target program to improve traffic in big cities including Hanoi and HCMC and prevent over 30 minute traffic jams from occurring.

The program on ensuring traffic safety, preventing and fighting fire, drug and crime in the phase of 2016-2020 also set a target of tackling traffic safety corridor violations in some key roads, restoring order in major railway stations and trains to reduce traffic accidents especially at level crossings.

Traffic accident number and casualty rate will post a year on year reduction of 5-10 percent. Specially serious accidents relating to coaches and motorbikes will decrease.

Notably, the program will completely build wireless, wireline information networks of the Ministry of Public Security, connect Traffic Police Bureau with local traffic police departments, traffic police stations and teams in highways and district traffic police nationwide.

The program will equip modern firefighting apparatus and equipment, build information centers to command and manage firefighting and rescue operations in 16 provinces and cities.

The Government must determine to reduce recidivism rate among those released from prison to below 20 percent. 75 percent of prisoners having enough time, health and ability will be apprenticed. 100 percent of people released from prison will receive job seeking advices and assistances.

By 2020, the country will have no drug “hot spot”, deter and raze illegal cannabis planting and not let illegal drug production exist.

Submerged National Highway No.20 leads to traffic snarl

A traffic jam in the National Highway No.20 in the Highlands province of Lam Dong slowed down thousands of vehicles for more than 5 kilometers yesterday. 

In these days, some sections of the highway through Lam Dong Province’s Loc Chau Commune inundated after heavy downpours.

Yesterday, hundreds of drivers tried to get their vehicles through the congested road that was submerged under more than one meters of water. Heavy rains led to traffic snarls; vehicles were queuing in five kilometers.

Traffic police of Bao Loc Town were sent to the National Highway to control traffic and instruct vehicles to escape the submerged areas.

Locals along the National Highway said that the highway is submerged for these days yet the condition became worse yesterday badly affecting people’s lives.

Da Nang-Quang Ngai Expressway to open to traffic early August

A distance of 65km of Da Nang-Quang Ngai Expressway will be opened to traffic on August 2, according to the Vietnam Expressway Corporation (VEC).

The construction of the 140 km expressway linking Quang Ngai province to Da Nang City was kicked off in 2013. The highway features six lanes, including two lanes for urgent works with the width of 256 meters. The road is designed for vehicles to run at a speed of 120 kph.

The project costs about US$1.472 billion, of which $673 million is a loan from Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), $631 million is from the World Bank, and the remaining amount is from the Vietnamese Government.

The express will shorten the travel time between Da Nang, Quang Nam and Quang Ngai, reduce traffic overload on National Highway 1 and promote defense, security and economic growth in the region.

The work is expected to be completed in the end of 2017.

$5.1 million spent to support poor workers in five years

At a meeting to review five-year implementation of Worker Month yesterday, the Labor Union in Ho Chi Minh City said that it has spent VND117 billion ($5.1 million) to support 2 million poor workers and young members.

During five years, the Worker Month is held annually with various activities including overcoming difficulties with workers, affectionate and grateful heart, the ninth hour, saving accounts for workers who suffer accidents or whose economic condition is in poverty line.

So far, the labor union has given $5.1 million to back 2 million needy laborers. Additionally, during five years, laborers have good initiatives to save VND234 billion.

More incentive for transport firms to replace CNG-buses

At the meeting with the Department of Transport on July 19, passenger transport enterprises petitioned to have incentive to replace normal bus fleets with CNG-fueled public transportation fleet. 

Moreover, firms said the city government should build more CNG filling stations, maintain subsidization and delay replacement of the out-of-date buses.

Speaking at the meeting, deputy director of the Department Tran Quan Lam said that the Department and related agencies will resolve each problem especially incentive for investment and subsidization.

As per HCMC Department of Transport’s Management and Operation Center for Public Transport’s plan, the number of passengers travelling in public vehicles in 2017 will reach 600 million and 244 million people will travel on subsidized buses.

In the first six months of the year, 272.8 million traveled in the public vehicles, achieving 45.4 percent of the plan. There has been a year-on-year rise of 2.6 percent. Subsidized buses received 109.2 million passengers, an increase of 2.1 percent compared to same period last year and achieving 44.8 percent in the plan.

At present, of 145 bus routes in the city, 105 routes are subsidized and 40 routes are without subsidization to meet people’s travelling demand. Of 2,586 bus fleets, 299 are CNG-fueled buses; 2,266 diesel-fueled buses and 21 use petrol.

Transport firms will receive VND 1 trillion ($43,988,975) as subsidization for transporting students and workers in 2017. 11 firms and cooperatives which run 970 buses in 53 routes are also subsidized.

The Department asked the city authority for support as it strives to have 15-20 percent of students using public vehicles for travelling by 2020.

Rainy season triggers disease outbreaks

As heavy rains and floods affect the country in July, in its document yesterday, the Department of Preventive Medicine asked directors of departments of heal nationwide to strengthen disease prevention.

The Department requested local health authorities to implement measures against diseases as well as supply clean water, tidy environment after the flooding. Medical workers should instruct residents in the flood-struck areas to carry out personal hygiene and handle animal corpses.

It is the peak time for epidemic diseases such as petechial fever, malaria, typhoid, diarrhea, flu , dengue and red eyes. Accordingly, local health authorities must set up mobile teams to instruct people to clean environment and keep food safe.

Local health authorities must supply disinfectants to people.

The Ministry of Health said that dengue development drove more people into hospitals. Alone in 15 first days of July, the hospitalization rate in some Mekong delta increased 125 percent compared to same period last year.

By statistics of local health authorities in the Mekong delta, dengue surged drastically from early July because rainy season is conducive for mosquito development leading to more disease outbreaks compared to previous months.

For instance, in ten first days of July, An Giang Province to the Mekong delta’s west has most cases of dengue with 120 hospitalization cases, next is Soc Trang Province with 110 cases and Dong Thap Province with 100 inpatients.

One die, 15 injured in two serious traffic accidents

One person died and at least 10 others were injured in a traffic accident Saturday night in Thạnh Lộc Commune, District 12 in HCM City.

Initial information showed that a seven-seat automobile running at high speed lost control and crashed into nine motorbikes and four other seven-seat automobiles, which were headed towards the same direction near the Tô Ngọc Vân-Hà Huy Giáp road junction. 

At the same moment, a semi-lorry running at high speed crashed into the two motorbikes on Nguyễn Biểu Road in Ward 1, District 5. It continued to run at a frightening speed and crashed into three other motorbikes. Five people were injured in the incident. 

Further investigations are being conducted into the two cases.