National Highway 5 to have more bus stops

The Directorate for Roads of Việt Nam (DRVN) has asked provinces and cities of Hưng Yên, Hải Dương, Hải Phòng and and Hà Nội to set up more bus stops along National Highway 5.

The purpose is to make travel more comfortable for passengers and restore traffic order.

National Highway 5 is a major road in northern Việt Nam connecting Hà Nội to the port city of Hải Phòng. Coaches operating along the Hà Nội-Hải Phòng route transport some 10,000 travellers per day.

However, the lack of bus stops and frequent violations by transport firms while picking and dropping passengers have resulted in disorder and threatened traffic safety along the road.

Following an on-site inspection, the DRVN asked transport departments to set up 11 more bus stops in Hưng Yên Province, 16 more in Hải Dương Province and with more in Hải Phòng City, along with clear signs on the stops.

In Hà Nội, the inspection revealed that the bus stops were small and too narrow, not equipped to handle the several coaches going back and forth to pick and drop passengers at a time. This had led to traffic jams, disorder and was unsafe.

The DRVN asked Hà Nội’s Department of Transport and related agencies to allocate funds for building larger bus stops in Gia Lâm District.

It also asked provincial transport departments and related agencies to closely monitor the situation at the bus stops to determine necessary adjustments.

Khúc Hữu Thanh Hải, director of Đất Cảng Transport and Service Joint-stock Company, applauded the proposal and suggested building of bus stops at every 5km in cities and every 10km in the suburbs.

“When there are more designated bus stops, people will know the exact place and time to catch the coach, instead of standing wherever they want along the road,” he said.

Hải said transport firms operating on this route were willing to set up bus stops on their own as long as the state management agencies had an overall plan. He suggested that transport firms joining the plan commit to not violate regulations.

“Any coach picking or dropping passengers away from the bus stops must be strictly penalised, even if it means withdrawing the business licence. Only then will coaches dare not stop along the road to pick up commuters or fight amongst themselves for passengers,” Hải said. 

Danang International Firework Competition shines Marble Mountains

The Danang International Firework Competition (DIFC) is scheduled for April 29 - June 30, 2017.

According to its organiser- Sun Group, apart from a firework display, diverse activities will be held including ADM music, culinary arts and street festivals, a masterchef cooking competition and a photo contest.

Chairman of Danang People’s Committee Huynh Duc Tho has assigned Sun Group to promote the brand of Danang and hoped that its traditional culture will further be preserved through the annual event.

DIFC 2017 is expected to attract the participation of eight teams.

Greed gets the better of Chinese credit card scamsters in Vietnam

Not satisfied with over US$25,000 in gold, they went back to the same shop to try again.

Police in Vietnam’s northern city of Haiphong have arrested two Chinese men who allegedly used fake credit cards to buy gold and watches, news site Nguoi Lao Dong reported on September 22.

Chen Jin Sheng, 26, and Liu Jun Peng, 31, both from China's Fujian Province, were found to have 25 fake Mastercard credit cards and two Point of Sale (POS) devices.

On August 27, they illegally entered Vietnam into the border province of Quang Ninh before heading to Haiphong where they successfully used a fake card to buy gold worth VND597 million (US$26,362) from a gold shop, according to the police.

They also used another card to purchase a watch worth VND20 million (US$883) on the same street.

Chen and Liu received the cardholders' information from a hacker in China. 

On their second attempt on September 13, they were seized while using a fake card at the same gold shop in Haiphong.

Debate on motorbike ban resurfaces as traffic congestion haunts cities

The banning of motorbikes in major Vietnamese cities to combat worsening traffic congestion is once again on the table after Hanoi’s Department of Transport has unveiled its plan to restrict non-resident motorbikes from entering the capital by 2025.

In 2013, a government-approved development plan to reduce land-road traffic in Vietnam by 2020 speculated that there would be 36 million motorbikes and 3.5 million cars in the country by that year.

There are still four years to go until the deadline, but 45 million motorbikes are already roaming Vietnam’s roads. At current rates that number is expected to reach 60 million by 2020.

“Vietnam’s motorbike planning has been completely disrupted,” Dr. Luong Hoai Nam, economic expert and former CEO at Vietnam-based low-cost airline Jetstar Pacific, said in an interview with Tuoi Tre(Youth) newspaper.

Nam has been a dedicated and vocal proponent of banning motorbikes in major cities as a countermeasure to traffic congestion ever since the discussion was first brought up in Vietnam.

The economic expert said his interest in the issue took shape in 2007, when he first heard of a similar move by China’s Guangzhou administration.

“I was so thrilled. After some further study, I found that Guangzhou was only following the footsteps of Beijing and Shanghai, where the ban had been in place for much longer. There are currently around 150 Chinese cities where motorbikes are prohibited,” Nam explained of his support for the ban in Vietnam.

Nam said cities with similar or even less developed economies than Vietnam’s are also taking steps to implement a ban on motorbikes, citing Yangon and Jakarta, the respective capitals of Myanmar and Indonesia, Vietnam’s regional neighbors in Southeast Asia.

“You can do the math. There are currently 7.5 million motorbikes registered in Ho Chi Minh City, and an additional one million non-resident motorbikes moving around the city each day. With 3,750 kilometers of road in total, Ho Chi Minh City handles over 2,000 motorbikes on every kilometer of its roads,” Nam explained.

“With 500,000 additional motorbikes registered each year, in five years we won’t be able to move an inch on our roads,” Nam stressed.

The expert added that a ban on motorbikes must be accompanied by the equal development of public transport to handle the massive shift in public commuting habits.

The convenience of a motorbike, which enables one to get virtually anywhere in Vietnamese cities without any additional walking, has stripped Vietnamese city-dwellers of the habits of walking or taking public transport in their daily commute, Nam remarked.

An infographic of the number of personal vehicles registered in Ho Chi Minh City over the years (Yellow line, red line, and blue columns demonstrate numbers of cars, motorbikes, and collective personal vehicles respectively; numbers shown are in thousands for cars and millions for bikes and collective personal vehicles). 

In response to a question on whether a ban on personal motorbikes, but not cars, would be unfair for those who could not afford a car, Nam said Vietnam should learn from Singapore to set a cap on the number of new car registrations each year, while imposing high fees on those who drive personal cars into the city center or at rush hour.

“This is why most people in Singapore or Hong Kong still prefer public transport in their daily commute despite owning a car, as the cost of driving a car is too high,” Nam said.

According to Nam, buses would be the most suitable form of public transport for Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, for only these vehicles can carry commuters through the complex network of small roads typical of each city.

The cities would each need 30,000 buses, at the cost of VND3 billion (US$133,929), to sufficiently handle the influx of commuters, according to Nam's estimations.

Nam added that Ho Chi Minh City also lacks a trans-city highway connecting Tan Son Nhat International Airport with the Phu My Hung area in District 7, allowing vehicles to travel directly between the two ends of the city without going through winding roads filled with intersections.

Meanwhile, urban traffic expert Dr. Nguyen Xuan Thuy was not so thrilled with the idea of banning motorbikes in Vietnamese cities.

“How is the 80% of the Vietnamese population using personal motorbikes to commute after the ban?” Thuy raised the question.

According to Thuy, until public transport in the country becomes more developed a ban on personal motorbikes would make traffic congestion even worse.

Thuy said the people will give up their personal motorbikes, even without a ban, as soon as public transport is made more convenient.

“The people must have the freedom to choose for themselves. This is not a matter of imposition,” Nam concluded.

Yen Bai to hold Van Yen cinnamon festival in October

The second Van Yen cinnamon festival, themed “Van Yen luscious cinnamon”, will be held at the Central Stadium of Van Yen district, Yen Bai province from October 7 - 8. 

The district is aggressively marketing to attract tourists to the festival, Le Minh Duc -Vice-chairman of the Van Yen District People’s Committee - said on September 22. 

The festival will feature sports competitions, art performances, folk performances and sightseeing. 

Cultural activities of the Red Dao ethnic minority people living in the district will also be on show, including the 12-light Cap Sac ceremony (a rite of passage for boys), Pao Dung folk singing and Caumua (prayers for an abundant harvest) rituals. 

The festival will promote Van Yen cinnamon to investors, and boost tourism through introducing the Red Dao’s distinctive culture. 

After the first Van Yen cinnamon festival in 2015, total output of all cinnamon products increased: cinnamon bark from 7,000 to 9,000 tonnes, cinnamon oil from 280 to 290 tonnes, and cinnamon wood from 40,000 sq.m to 62,000 sq.m.-

Sofitel Hanoi celebrates 10th food and wine festival

The Sofitel Legend Metropole Hanoi is bringing together myriad dinners, chefs and workshops into one six-week spectacular, the 10th Les Arômes Festival 2016, from October 10 to November 23 - one of Southeast Asia’s premier culinary events.

“The Metropole’s 10th Les Arômes Festival will be a culinary extravaganza, celebrating the end of the harvest and showcasing the very best that Hanoi has to offer in international cuisine and fine wine,” said Mr. Franck Lafourcade, the hotel’s General Manager.

Seven celebrated chefs from Italy, France, Vietnam, Thailand and China will show off their culinary skills in five wine dinners and eight delectable events that will include live cooking demonstrations, bread making classes, wine and cheese pairings, chocolate tastings, and private dinners.

More than 100 Metropole staff are coordinating the event.

Headlining this year’s event is Paolo Vitaletti, chef and owner of the Italian trattoria Appia in Bangkok. Paolo, who has cooked for such famous faces as Angelina Jolie, Mick Jagger and Mark Zuckerberg, is set to host a number of lunches and dinners featuring authentic Roman-style dishes like handmade paccheri carbonara and cavatelli with lamb ragu at the Metropole’s Angelina fine-dining restaurant. In a tribute to gastronomy, some of his signature dishes will become part of the permanent menu at the restaurant following the end of the festival.

Bread lovers can rejoice, as executive pastry chef and baker Christophe Grilo returns to the historic hotel for a bread, cheese and wine extravaganza on October 22. Meanwhile, master cheesemaker Gerard Poulard will introduce gourmands to a selection of more than 100 different varieties of cheeses at La Veranda, while Chef Didier Corlou, owner of the Verticale restaurant in Hanoi, will hold a lecture on Vietnamese spices and herbs on November 3.

Foodies should not miss the modern reinterpretations of classic Thai dishes from Chef Thitid “Ton” Tassanakajohn’s, owner of Le Du and BaaGaDin in Bangkok, on November 4 and 5. Chef Ton trained in two of the world’s three Michelin-starred restaurants: Eleven Madison Park and Jean-Georges in New York.

The Metropole has even designated a day for eating chocolate. Using only the finest chocolate made in Vietnam, “A Day of Chocolate” on November 5 includes a chocolate buffet, a chocolate cooking class, chocolate infused cocktails at the newly revamped Le Club, and a special chocolate dinner at Orangerie.

The festivities are set to continue throughout November with a number of wine events, including a Burgundy tasting and an intimate private dinner with French wine connoisseur Thibault Gagey, export director of Maison Louis Jadot, on November 10.

AES-VCM supports health care programmes in Vietnam

AES-VCM Mong Duong Power Company has organised a first-aid training for more than 160 local people at the clinic of the northern province of Quang Ninh’s Mong Duong ward where the company’s $2 billion thermal power plant is located.

The company also handed over other construction works including parking house and terrace roof to the clinic. This is among several community development initiatives that AES-VCM has supported to not only upgrade the local facilities, but also improve local healthcare services.

“One of the core operation principles of our company is to maximise the economic and social benefits associated with the development of Mong Duong 2 BOT Power Plant,” said David Stone, AES-VCM Mong Duong Power Company’s managing director.

The total value of this healthcare programme is more than VND400 million ($20,000) where more than 400 local people of Mong Duong ward, Cong Hoa and Cam Hai communes received an intensive training on first aid skills and provided with a family first aid kits.

Kevin Pierce, manager of Mong Duong 2 Power Plant emphasised that the value of the programme is not limited to what the company provided at the training but it goes further as people take the skill and knowledge home to share with their family, friends and neighbors to raise the awareness of community healthcare.

AES-VCM Mong Duong Power Company is formed by three investors in which the US’ AES Corporation is the biggest investor with 51 per cent, Posco Energy Corporation from Korea (30 per cent) and China Investment Corporation from China (19 per cent). This is the first and largest coal-fired power project based on build-operate-transfer (BOT) scheme using pulverised coal fired boiler technology in Vietnam. The plant is expected to generate up to 7.6 billion kilowatt hours of electricity annually.

Since April 2015, both units of the power plant with the total capacity of 1,242 megawatts have entered commercial operations which is over six months earlier than the committed schedule with the Vietnamese government. The plant has contributed more than 4.2 billion kWh of electricity to the national grid in 2016.

Quick compensation urged for fish death-hit fishermen

The Government has called on relevant ministries and agencies to quickly assess losses and disburse compensation money for fishermen who have suffered from April’s mass fish deaths in Ha Tinh, Quang Binh, Quang Tri and Thua Thien-Hue provinces.

The compensation is part of an announcement made by the Government Office to convey an instruction of Deputy Prime Minister Truong Hoa Binh after a recent meeting on measures to help fishermen, households and businesses affected by the severe pollution incident.

The ministries of finance and agriculture-rural development are told to quickly determine compensation rates for the four provinces and submit them to the Government for approval. 

Binh told ministries and agencies to comply with the Government’s documents guiding the calculation and provision of compensation in a transparent manner.

The Deputy Prime Minister told authorities in the four provinces to assign specialized management agencies to prepare statistics on damage on schedule. 

District-level authorities are responsible for determining compensation for each person and business based on statistics on damage and the compensation rate. Reports will be sent to provincial governments so that the latter will inform the ministries of finance and agriculture-rural development of results. 

Binh said besides compensation, ministries and agencies must act to cope with the aftermath of the incident and install wastewater monitoring systems in the four provinces.

Measures must be taken to ensure that the Formosa Ha Tinh steel complex will not discharge harmful industrial wastewater into the sea again, fulfill its commitments and abide by waste discharge regulations.

Ministries must suggest measures to support fishermen and businesses to recover and boost production, provide people with vocational training and expand vessel fleet, and send to the agriculture ministry to work out a general scheme. 

The ministries of health and education-training are assigned to work on plans to exempt students in the provinces from tuition fees and people from health insurance fees but this will depend on the affordability of the State budget.  

The Ministry of Health will continue taking samples of seawater in the provinces and cooperate with the ministries of information-communications, agriculture-rural development and natural resources-environment, and the Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology to give updates on the quality of seafood.

Provincial governments have to tell relevant agencies to release statistics on seafood inventories and coping solutions within this month. 

The Deputy Prime Minister ordered the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to complete a scheme on measures to support affected fishermen to recover production or switch to other jobs in addition to compensation for them.

The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment must ensure wastewater monitoring systems are in place in a timely way in the four provinces and all other coastal provinces thereafter.

On Tuesday, the Ministry of Health said fish that live on the seabed off the four central coastal provinces remain unsafe to eat due to phenol contamination. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development said the provinces have virtually finished calculation of economic damage caused by the Formosa waste and compensation payments for fishermen are expected to start from early next month.

Local and foreign designers gather at Elle fashion show

Elle Fashion Journey themed Inspiring Vietnam will introduce eight latest collections by local and foreign designers at the Gem Center in District 1, HCMC on September 30 and October 1.

The creations by Dieu Anh, Quang Nhat, Thuy Nguyen, Tuan Tran, Anh – Ha, Anna Vo, Jane Nuchsuda and Giao Linh will show the typical craft techniques and fabrics of Vietnam to the audience.

Prior to the fashion show, there will be a series of Fashion Road Trip events at the fashion faculties of universities in HCMC where participants can exchange with fashion experts, attend movie screenings and see some outstanding creations by fashion students in HCMC and Hanoi.

The fashion show will take place at Gem Center at 8 Nguyen Binh Khiem Street, District 1, HCMC.

Patients need patience at hospital parking lots

Sitting at the foot of a tree in the National Institute of Mental Health, under the Hà Nội-based Bạch Mai Hospital, Lê Thị Thanh casts her eyes around to search for her son in the crowd queuing up to park their vehicles in the hospital’s parking lot.

The woman, from Lập Thạch District, the northern province of Vĩnh Phúc, waits for her son with an exhausted expression.

The Bạch Mai Hospital closed its biggest parking lot at the beginning of this month, in order to build a daytime centre for health examinations and treatment.

By the end of this month, the parking lot of the National Institute of Mental Health, where Hữu – Thanh’s son – parks his motorbike, will also be closed to upgrade the institute.

After 30 minutes of queuing up in the baking sun to get into the parking lot, and 10 more to find a space, Hữu is sweating profusely before even taking his mother into the hospital.

“I’m afraid of hospitals in Hà Nội. Leaving vehicles in the parking lot is more tiring than having a health examination,” said Hữu.

However, a 40-year-old motorbike taxi driver standing nearby said queuing for 20 minutes was still quick.

“The previous afternoon, too many vehicles flooded the parking lot so it took a long time to park the vehicles,” he said.

On Wednesday morning, the hospital’s security guards created a two-lane path to go in the parking lot, so residents can queue up along the path to go in and out.

But it still takes them at least 15 minutes, because the hospital is so crowded.

Since the Bạch Mai Hospital closed its biggest parking lot at the hospital’s gate, the parking lots of other surrounding hospitals such as the National Geriatrics Hospital, the National Ear, Nose and Throat Hospital and the National Dermatology and Venerology Hospital, are more crowded than usual, although their parking lots are less spacious.

At the National Ear, Nose and Throat Hospital, residents even have to put their vehicles in front of the health examination area and the drug stores, causing problems on the pavements.

The vehicles are arranged haphazardly and residents find it difficult to take their vehicles out.

Nguyễn Thị Huyền, from Hà Nội’s Thanh Trì District, takes her baby to the National Ear, Nose and Throat Hospital early so her motorbike is usually parked in a far corner. When she wants to leave, she’s faced with at least five other motorbikes that need to be moved to clear the way for hers.

Some residents are forced to leave their motorbikes at houses nearby, costing up to VNĐ10,000-20,000 (US$0.4-0.8) for one motorbike. 

Nguyễn Văn Thế, a resident from Hà Nội’s Đống Đa District, said that he agreed with the plan of upgrading the hospital. But the hospital should arrange another suitable parking lot while the old one is being upgraded.

Finding a parking lot outside the hospital will be much more difficult for patients coming from other provinces and cities, he said.

Doctor Dương Đức Hùng, head of the Planning Division under the Bạch Mai Hospital, told the Hà Nội Mới (New Hà Nội) newspaper that the hospital’s leaders knew that residents would face difficulties in finding parking, but the hospital could not provide an alternative.

The hospital recommended that residents travel to the hospital using public transportation rather than personal vehicles.

The hospital asked the people’s committees of Đống Đa District, Phương Mai and Đồng Tâm wards for support to create good conditions for residents parking their vehicles.

Hoàng Bảo Phương, chairwoman of the Phương Mai Ward People’s Committee, said that the ward did not have any big spaces to accommodate such a large number of vehicles.

Every day, Bạch Mai Hospital receives about 6,000 people for health examinations, 4,000 inpatients and thousands of visitors, according to the hospital’s statistics.

Soft loans in northwest region effective in poverty alleviation

Soft loans provided in the northwestern region helped lift more than 318,000 families out of poverty between 2011 and 2015. 

The information was released at a meeting on September 21 to review credit provision in the northwest. The event was held in Lao Cai province by the Steering Committee for the Northwestern Region and the State-run Vietnam Bank for Social Policies (VBSP).  

The region comprises 12 provinces and 21 western districts of the northern central provinces of Thanh Hoa and Nghe An, home to a large ethnic minority population with high poverty rate. 

State funding through the VBSP, with low interest rates, has assisted local residents’ agricultural and business activities, the meeting heard. 

More than 2.2 million poor and near-poor families and other beneficiaries in the region have received credit from the VBSP since 2011. Among them, more than 1.5 million households are from ethnic minorities. 

The VBSP’s outstanding loans were roughly 32.19 trillion VND (1.44 billion USD) as of August 31, 2016. 

From 2011 to 2015, preferential loans helped create 114,000 jobs, helped 121,000 students continue studying, and build 681,000 clean water supply and sanitation facilities along with 61,000 houses for the poor in the northwest. 

As a result, the rate of deprived households there dropped to 14.97 percent in 2015 from 34.58 percent in late 2010, the report said. 

At the meeting, participants admitted shortcomings in loan provision and suggested ways to improve social policy credit.

Project to train human resource for climate change reviewed

A technical assistance project funded by the Dutch Government has been successful in enhancing training capacity for the Water Resources University and the Hanoi University of Natural Resources & Environment. 

The assessment was made at a review meeting held in Hanoi on September 21 by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MoNRE), the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, and the Embassy of the Netherlands in Vietnam. 

The project, worth nearly 1.32 million EUR, was carried out from 2012 to 2016, aims to help the two universities and other partners to train high-quality human resources for the sustainable development of water resources in Vietnam. 

Addressing the event, MoNRE Deputy Minister Chu Pham Ngoc Hien highlighted the positive contribution the Niche project has made to the two universities over the past five years. 

Enhancing the capability of training human resources for the sector of water resources is very important in the context of climate change, with droughts, salt intrusion, floods, pollution and natural resource exhaustion all affecting the country, Hien said. 

Echoing the Deputy Minister, Rector of the Hanoi University of Natural Resources & Environment Nguyen Ngoc Thanh expressed his hope that the project will help expand the water resource management training network at home and abroad.

Leading stylists join Piaggio’s fashion contest

Three leading Vietnamese stylists will compete at the first Vespa Top Stylist Contest held by Piaggio Vietnam.

The contest aims to honor modern Vietnamese who want to search for new and inspirational things in life. Stylists Lam Thuy Nhan, Le Minh Ngoc and Pong Chuan and their teams, including a photographer, a make-up artist and a hairdresser, will show the beauty of fashion via creative and free-style concepts with a Vespa scooter.

The teams will have castings to browse for their models who are at least 1.6 meters tall for females and at least 1.75 meters tall for males, good-looking and able to act in front of the camera.

The contest’s results will be announced in mid-October and an award ceremony will take place in HCM City in late October. Four members of the team that wins the competition will be offered a trip to Italy and a cash prize of VND100 million.

Ayala Corp passes Vinaphil to CII

The Philipines’ oldest conglomerate, Ayala Corporation has voted to divest its entire 49 per cent holding in Vinaphil Technical Infrastructure Investment JSC (Vinaphil) to Ho Chi Minh City Infrastructure Investment JSC (CII), according to newswire Philstar.com.

However, no reason was given for the divestment.

The divestment comes four years after Ayala inked an agreement with CII and other Vietnamese investors to establish the joint venture, which has the initial capital of $43 million.

After the divestment, Ayala’s management board also approved the creation of a new subsidiary, HCX Technology Partners Inc., for the acquisition of the human resource outsourcing assets of HR Mall Inc.

Ayala is one of the largest conglomerates in the Philippines, with activities extending to real estate, financial services, telecommunications, and a broad range of investments in water, electronics, automotive, international operations, and business process outsourcing. Recently, it has ventured into the power generation and transport infrastructure sectors to spur faster growth.

In November 2015, Ayala’s wholly-owned Singaporean subsidiary Manila Water South Asia Holdings Pte., Ltd. (Manila Water) completed the purchase of 24.5 per cent of Cu Chi Water Supply Sewerage Company Ltd. Besides, it holds a 31.5 per cent stake in Saigon Water Infrastructure JSC.

CII has a portfolio of strategic infrastructure assets, including water treatment plants and toll roads leading to Ho Chi Minh City and the surrounding areas. This water company also holds a stake in Thu Duc Water BOO Corp., a water treatment company which is now 49 per cent-owned by Manila Water.

In addition to water infrastructure, CII holds toll road concessions, such as the 15.7-kilometre expansion of the Hanoi Highway, which connects north-eastern Ho Chi Minh City to Bien Hoa, an industrial centre located in south Vietnam.

CII plans to make further investments in new water infrastructure initiatives and is considering expansion into other types of infrastructure projects, such as public transportation terminals.

Bayer partners Bright Future Fund to improve access to innovative treatment for liver and kidney cancer patients in Vietnam

Bayer South East Asia Pte Ltd. (Bayer SEA) and Bright Future Fund (BFF) in Vietnam, a member of Union for International Cancer Control (UICC) have established a patient assistance programme to provide Vietnamese patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) or advanced renal cell carcinoma (RCC) with better access to a targeted oral cancer therapy.

In the programme, patients who are diagnosed with HCC or RCC, and are prescribed with the oral cancer drug approved by the Ministry of Health (MoH) will be funded for the drug treatment at every second treatment cycle. The programme will be implemented in two stages with first applied at K Hospital, Bach Mai Hospital, Medical University Centre and Cho Ray Hospital and then expanded to more hospitals and medical centres nationwide.

Each year, there are 782,000 new cases of liver cancer and 746,000 related deaths worldwide. HCC represents more than 90 per cent of the liver cancer cases. Recently, Vietnam has been ranked 5th globally among countries with the highest incidence of liver cancer for both sexes. In Vietnam, the incidence of liver cancer is higher in men than in women and is ranked 3rd after Mongolia and Laos.

“It is estimated that there are almost 22,000 new cases of liver cancer every year in Vietnam. This brings upon enormous challenges and burdens to the national health care system as well as to patients themselves,” said Dr. Tran Van Thuan, director of BFF. “Hence, BFF and Bayer SEA have worked together to bring this programme to help local patients in their battles against cancers.”

“The programme offers a practical support for patients in reducing the treatment cost, indirectly helping them to adhere to the recommended doses of cancer drug in their treatment to optimise efficacy,” said Dr. Nguyen Dinh Song Huy, deputy head of Oncology Centre, head of Liver Cancer Department at Cho Ray Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City.

According to Dr. Huy, the hospital sees almost 3,000-3,500 new cases of liver cancers each year. “Unfortunately there are more and more patients who only get to know about their disease at advanced stages when only targeted treatment with an oral multi-kinase inhibitor is recommended if their liver function is still good. The drug has been proven to prolong survival in patients with good treatment tolerability.”

“As the leader for HCC systemic treatment, Bayer is honoured to collaborate with BFF and hospitals in this patient assistance programme to support patients in Vietnam who are suffering from HCC or advanced RCC. Through this initiative, we aim to provide local patients with better access to the innovative cancer treatment,” said Dr. Lynette Moey, chief representative of Bayer SEA Office in Ho Chi Minh City. 

Dengue cases escalate, Zika re-occurs in Vietnam

No cases of dengue fever have been reported in Ho Chi Minh City since March, 2016, however in September, dengue fever and Zika virus disease re-occurred in Ho Chi Minh City.

Rainy season is conducive to increase in cases of dengue fever. Head of the city’s Department of Preventive Medicine Dr. Nguyen Tri Dung said that after many months of curbing dengue fever, rainy season has created favorable condition for the breeding of mosquitoes. 

By statistic in early September, HCMC had 501 hospitalized dengue fever cases, 34 percent higher than last month. Since the beginning of the year, the city has had 11,306 dengue patients, an increase of 35 percent compared to same period last year. 

As per the city Department of Preventive Medicine, some districts including Hoc Mon, Binh Chanh, Thu Duc and Binh Thanh have outbreaks of dengue. In August, an outbreak of dengue fever in Hoc Mon District infected five inhabitants and one killed. The disease drove 4 others into hospitals.

Cu Chi District is also a “hot spot” for dengue, the Department of Preventive Medicine therefore paid visits and checked anti-mosquito measures in Tan Trung Phu Commune of the district.

Before, in July, 2016, dengue was plaguing in the central highlands provinces and Vietnam’s South East region. At that time, Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam arrived in the two regions urging to adopt measures to eliminate the disease outbreaks. As per the Ministry of Health, the dengue leaped to 50,000 cases in 48 cities and provinces including 17 deaths. The figure is three times higher than last year. 

Meanwhile, the World Health Organization (WHO) said that the Zika virus is developing complicatedly. As of September 19, 72 nations and territories worldwide reported the circulation of Zika virus. Apart from this, seven Southeast Asian countries reported that people are diagnosed with the mosquito-borne virus; especially Singapore has reported with 396 infection cases of Zika virus disease since late August. 

Early in September, Vietnamese Ministry of Health recorded a case of Zika. That is a German lives in district 2.  Health authority September 13 announced case of a Taiwanese man who arrived in Vietnam to attend his son’s wedding ceremony in the Mekong delta province of Tra Vinh and then was diagnosed with the mosquito-borne disease when returning Taiwan (China).

Zika virus disease entered Vietnam in March, 2016 infecting a resident in Ho Chi Minh City and causing concerns among the community. Head of the Ministry of Health’s Department of Preventive Medicine Dr. Tran Dac Phu warned that Zika virus has spread after a period of hiatus. Some Asian nations such as Japan, Thailan, and the Philippines have recorded cases of Zika virus disease; accordingly Vietnam is highly likely to have outbreak of Zika.

Speaking at the teleconference of ASEAN health ministers, Health Minister Nguyen Thi Kim Tien said Vietnam has raised public awareness of Zika prevention, especially at international airports and border gates  and relevant agencies will increase monitoring passengers from disease-stricken nations. 

Medical workers in all infirmaries nationwide will take samples for testing if they are suspected and Vietnam will use the Trioplex test which used to diagnosis Zika virus cases, dengue and Chikunggunia in the early stage, said Minister Tien. She pointed out that to prevent Zika virus disease effectively, people’s awareness is important and they need to regularly kill mosquito and destroy water containers to kill larva.

Concluding the event, participants of the ASEAN health minister issued a joint statement detailing co-operation in increasing monitoring efforts in each country, improving information exchange, surveillance and countermeasures, as well as mosquito control and management of larvae breeding grounds.

Compensation for fishermen available from October

From early October, the central provinces of Ha Tinh, Quang Binh, Quang Tri and Thua Thien-Hue are expected to start paying compensation for fishermen affected by April’s mass fish deaths caused by harmful industrial wastewater from the Formosa Ha Tinh steel complex.

The Vietnam unit of Taiwan’s Formosa Plastics Group admitted responsibility for what is called the most serious environmental incident in Vietnam and pledged VND11.5 trillion (around US$500 million) in compensation for economic damage.

The provinces have basically completed their economic damage assessments and sent reports to the Ministry of Finance, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Ha Cong Tuan said at a meeting held by the Party Central Committee’s Ideology and Education Commission for representatives of media and relevant State agencies in Hanoi on September 20.

The Ministry of Finance submitted compensation rates for groups of affected people to the Prime Minister for approval towards end-September. If Government approval is forthcoming, compensation could reach fishermen from October.

Earlier, the agriculture ministry released Document 7433/BNN-TCTS dated September 1 on expanding the list of recipients of financial support over the mass fish deaths. They include owners of fishing boats of more than 90 HP and their employees, owners of seafood trading enterprises with cold storage facilities and their employees, fish sauce and shrimp paste businesses, and fish farming facilities.

The ministry also issued Document 7268/BNN-TCTS dated August 29 on aquaculture and fisheries in the four central provinces.

Localities were asked to assist local people in saltwater and brackish water fish farming.

Fishermen were advised not to go fishing in Son Duong Islet in Ha Tinh, Nhat Le Beach in Quang Binh and Son Cha Islet in Thua Thien-Hue for marine life to recover.

Waste treatment plant in Mekong Delta resumes operation

Phuong Thao Construction and Development Joint Stock Company in the Mekong Delta province of Vinh Long has put its waste treatment plant back into operation after a two-year hiatus.

In 2009, Phuong Thao spent VND250 billion (US$11.2 million) building the waste treatment facility in Hoa Phu Commune, Long Ho District, the company’s general director Lieu Cat Phuong Thao said at a news briefing in Vinh Long on Monday.

The plant carried out a six-month pilot operation in 2013 before it was put on hold due to difficulties, Thao said. The eight-hectare facility has a designed treating capacity of 300 tons of waste per eight hours.

A source close to the project told the Daily that in April 2014, the authority of Vinh Long Province requested the government of Can Tho City to tell Can Tho Urban Works Limited Company to stop transporting garbage to Phuong Thao for treatment. The reason was the facility was running on a trial basis, so it did not meet environment requirements.

Phuong Thao decided to transfer the entire facility to the provincial government and Vietnam Development Bank (VDB), which lent to the first phase of the project, for them to find a new investor to manage and operate the plant.

In case no investor was found, Phuong Thao would be allowed to resume and operate the project when more favorable conditions came up.

In June last year, Phuong Thao injected an additional VND106 billion into a European incinerator to treat waste, including from hospitals in Mekong Delta provinces, instead of treating garbage into compost for farming.

Given the treatment capacity of 300 tons of garbage per eight hours, which is much higher than the amount collected daily in Vinh Long, the company will get waste from Can Tho for treatment at the plant after three months of resumption, according to Vinh Long Province’s Party chief Tran Van Ron.

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