3.7 kg ovarian cyst removed by district infirmary surgeons

Surgeons of the general hospital in Yen Phong District of the northern province of Bac Ninh successfully removed an ovarian cyst weighing nearly 4 kilogram for an elderly woman. 

73 year old woman’s belly was found to get bigger and bigger gradually and doctors verified there is a tumor in her belly.

She was hospitalized on July 11. Scan showed a 30x20 ovarian cyst occupying all her abdomen while her pulse rate was measured 80 time per minute on average and her blood pressure was 120/80 mmHg.

Surgeons were quick carried out to remove the cyst weighing 3.7 kg with fluid and hair were found inside the tumor.

After the operation, the woman’s health condition is stable and she was discharged on July 24. 

Former communal officials to be prosecuted over land dispute

The People’s Court of My Duc district, Hanoi yesterday said that it was expected to open a first instance court on August 8 to trial 14 former officials of the district and Dong Tam commune for violations in land use and management.

They have been accused of abusing positions and power while being on duty and irresponsibility causing serious consequences.

Previously, the district People’s Procuracy issued the indictment of the case and transferred it to the district People’s Court to prepare for taking the accused to court.

According to the case’s record, the former leaders and officials of Dong Tam commune slackened management in land field during their office terms from 2002-2013. Because of self-interested motivations, they had wrongly and improperly allocated land to some households.

Officials of My Duc district’s Land Registration Department and Natural Resources and Environment Department have been charged with not fulfilling duties and irresponsibility in assessing and verifying land origin, leading them to sign groundless confirmation papers.

Nha Trang tourism employees work overtime to serve tourists

Khanh Hoa province’s Relics Preservation Centre has announced it has asked tourism employees to work overtime to serve Chinese tourists who have flocked to Nha Trang recently.

The Centre is currently taking care of two relics, namely Ponagar Cham Tower in Nha Trang and Hon Chong Island.   

In the first half of the year, Ponagar Cham Tower received 4,500-5,000 visitors a day while Hon Chong island also welcomed 3.500-4,000 visitors.

Deputy director of the Khanh Hoa Relics Preservation Centre Nguyen Tuan Dung said the security force at Ponagar Cham Tower has been strengthened while more ticket sellers and tour guides are provided to meet the needs of the rising number of tourists to Nha Trang.

According to statistics, the revenue from tourism activities in the province reached more than VND7,500 billion in the first half of the year.

In the period, the locality welcomed more than 2.6 million visitors including one million foreign arrivals. Russian and Chinese visitors made up 80% of total international arrivals to Nha Trang.

Yamaha offers Ariana Grande 2017 tickets

Fans of American pop star Ariana Grande will have a chance to get free tickets to her ‘Dangerous Woman’ concert on August 23 in Ho Chi Minh City.

Ariana Grande will perform her hit songs like Bang Bang, One Last Time, and Problem as well as latest songs from her ‘Dangerous Woman’ album.

Vietnam is one of the four Southeast Asian nations on her tour.

Yamaha Motor Vietnam is a sponsor for Grande tour in Vietnam. Customers of Yamaha Motor can get free tickets by joining its programs at website Yamaha Motor Vietnam.

Whirlwinds damage houses in central provinces

A whirlwind occurred on Tuesday afternoon in central Hà Tĩnh Province, injuring two people and blowing away the roofs of 71 houses.

According to the Division of Agriculture and Rural Development of the province’s ĐứcThọ District, the whirlwind occurred ahead of Storm Sonca hitting the local coast.

The whirlwind lasted several minutes and travelled through three communes in the district, leaving two people injured and damaging 71 houses whose roofs were flown away.

The district deployed some 100 soldiers to assist locals with swift repairs of the houses as heavy rains caused by the storm lashed the area.

In QuảngTrị, a similar whirlwind occurred an hour ahead the arrival of the storm, which caused roofs of 56 houses in CửaTùng Town to be blown away.

The whirlwinds also ruined thousands of hectares of rice and vegetables in the provinces. 

Vietnam’s fallen soldiers commemorated in Cambodia

The Vietnamese Embassy and representatives of the Vietnamese people in Cambodia paid homage to Vietnamese soldiers who died in the country at the Cambodia-Vietnam Friendship Monument in Phnom Penh on July 26.

The activity marks 70 years of Vietnam’s War Invalids and Martyrs Day (July 27, 1947).

At the ceremony, Vietnamese Ambassador Thach Du and other participants observed a minute of silence to honour Vietnamese soldiers who died in Cambodia in various wars.

The soldiers’ sacrifice helped the Cambodian people escape from the Khmer Rouge genocidal regime and rebuild the country, reinforcing friendship between the two countries.

Another Cambodia-Vietnam Friendship Monument is scheduled to be inaugurated in Cambodia’s Battambang province on July 27.

There are 17 Cambodia-Vietnam Friendship Monuments across Cambodia at present.

Government gets tough on food safety violations

The Ministry of Health is drafting a decree detailing administrative sanctions against food safety violations, the Government news website reports.

Decree 178/2013/ND-CP on financial penalties against food safety violations which came into force in late 2013 has helped strengthen food safety controls, according to the Health Ministry.

The decree has created a legal framework for the fight against those infringing food safety rules, and has facilitated the implementation of the Law on Food Safety.

Administrative violations stipulated in the decree are adequate and clear. However, the decree has exposed some shortcomings.

The National Assembly (NA) passed Penal Code No. 100/2015/QH13 and the amended Law on amendments and supplements to some articles of the Penal Code which contain multiple new contents. They have direct effects on administrative sanctions against food safety infringements.

The NA also passed the Law on the Government’s Organization No. 76/2015/QH13, which provides principles and regulations for decentralization between central and local governments. Therefore, the draft decree makes clear the role of ministries and agencies in sanctioning administrative violations in line with the Government’s guidelines.

Especially, some regulations stated in the decree do not act as much of a deterrent. Hence, the draft decree is written in a way that imposes more severe penalties, additional sanctions like suspending violators’ operations for a certain period, and subsequent remedial measures such as forced destruction of goods harmful to human health.

Other administrative food safety violations which are prescribed in decrees on administrative sanctions against labeling, quality, and advertising violations are included in the draft decree.

This is why a new decree which would replace Decree 178 is needed. It also includes sanctions in violation of conditions for food safety and quality assurance in production and trade among others.

Over 313,700 national contributors’ family to enjoy housing support

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has issued a resolution on housing support for revolutionary contributors, which will benefit 313,707 households.

The resolution is part of efforts to conduct the second phase of the Prime Minister’s Decision 22/2013/QD-TTg dated April 26, 2013 on support policies for national contributors, which has total investment of 840 billion VND (36.95 million VND) from the State budget, along with 7.3 trillion VND (321 million USD) already allocated to the programme.

Apart from regulations on financial support in each case, the resolution also defines beneficiaries, including the national contributors’ wives, husbands or offspring who need support.

The Ministry of Planning and Investment was assigned to work with the Finance Ministry to distribute the central budget and propose necessary finances for the completion of the work by the end of 2018.

The People’s Committees of centrally-run cities and provinces were asked to pay the assistance to the beneficiaries.

Individuals and businesses are also encouraged to join the programme to ensure the houses constructed are high-quality.

Chương, Ngọc take lead in national chess event

Phạm Chương and Đặng Bích Ngọc led the National Chess Team Championships after the third round in HCM City yesterday.

Chương of HCM City pocketed three points after three wins in the men’s pool. He is followed by Tô Nhật Minh of Hà Nội and Nguyễn Đức Hòa of the Armu team, who also have three points but have worse parameter.

Ngọc from Bình Dương also has three wins in the women’s class. The runners-up are Nguyễn Thị Mai Hưng of Bắc Giang and Kiều Bích Thủy from Hà Nội.

In the mixed doubles category, HCM City are on top. Bình Dương and Kiên Giang are second and third, respectively.

The championships were kicked off on Monday and will last until Sunday.

Athletes are competing in men’s and women’s standard, rapid and blitz chess events.

Health pilot aims to boost local care

Residents in the outlying district of Thủ Đức in HCM City will be able to access full medical care in the near future as two doctors and a sufficient supply of medicine will be provided to 10 ward-level healthcare stations under a new pilot programme called Health Station-One Stop.

The pilot model aims to improve locals’ trust in the medical care offered by ward-level health stations, according to the city’s Department of Health.

Dr Tăng Chí Thượng, deputy head of the department, said the pilot model would help reduce overcrowding of patients at district-, city- and central-level hospitals.

Under the model, doctors at district-level health centres will be rotated at healthcare stations in wards to ensure that two doctors are always available.

Currently, many of the 319 healthcare stations in the city have only one doctor and some have none.

Thượng said the department would issue standard treatment guidelines for healthcare stations in the city, while a list of medical techniques to be used at the 10 participating health stations in the pilot model would be compiled.

District-level hospitals will be instructed to have a sufficient supply of medicine for ward-level healthcare stations, he said.

District hospitals will also receive blood tests and provide test results to healthcare stations within one hour in case the latter are unable to perform the tests. 

Under the pilot programme, doctors at district hospitals will be responsible for offering guidance to staff at the healthcare stations. 

If the patients need further care, they will be brought to specialised hospitals or district-level ones, according to Thượng.

Hospitals and medical centres will also use IT to link and share their data, while doctors will be allowed to treat the elderly or disabled at their homes.

In the first six months of the year, the number of patients visiting healthcare stations in wards accounted for 3.4 per cent of the city’s total of more than 15.7 million patients. The figure was measured at 3.9 per cent in the same period last year.

“Some patients visiting healthcare stations in Tân Bình District had to return home without being treated because no doctor was there,” said Nguyễn Thanh Trang, head of the District’s Preventive Medicine Centre, which manages the district’s healthcare stations.

Trang spoke at a meeting held in late March with the Ministry of Health in HCM City.

“The district has 10 health stations with one or two doctors. Its five remaining stations have no doctor,” Trang said, adding that the five stations used to have doctors, but they left because of low salaries.

Lê Văn Thể, head of the Health Centre in District 1, said that locals often ignored ward-level stations because they did not provide the same medicine as district-level hospitals.

Last month, Deputy Prime Minister Vũ Đức Đam said he was disappointed when he visited a healthcare station and ordered city authorities to offer them help.

Thượng said the city’s biggest challenge was increasing the level of trust among locals in their ward-level stations.

Thủ Đức District Hospital and Health Centre are responsible for overseeing the pilot model and monitoring the ward stations every month to detect any problems.

Dr Nguyễn Minh Quân, head of Thủ Đức District Hospital, said the hospital was ready to provide technical assistance to relieve overcrowding at his facility.

“The overcrowding at my hospital affects quality and can damage the brand name that took years to build. Hospital-acquired infections can also occur more easily because of overcrowding,” he said.

“I believe that services in wards and communes will attract a large number of patients in the next three years,” Quân added.

Currently, there are two other pilot healthcare models, including a general health clinic and public-private partnership model at several health stations in districts 3, Thủ Đức and Tân Phú. 

PM asks for better management over road, railway safety corridors

Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc has asked ministries, agencies and localities to enhance management and restoration of road and railway ‘shoulders’, or land along both sides of the road or railway for safety, to help reduce traffic accidents.

Under a recently-issued directive, PM Phúc requested ministries, branches and localities preliminarily review the implementation of a plan to restore road and railway shoulder safety for 2014-2020.

The Ministry of Transport has been asked to direct agencies and units to strengthen the implementation of regulations and co-ordination with localities and prevent violations of space in land areas reserved for roads or railways.

The Ministry of Public Security was requested to direct police agencies and localities to intensify the patrol, control, detection and prevention of violations of management of traffic infrastructure and strictly handle those causing public disorder or fighting those on duty along road shoulders and sidewalks.

The Ministry of Information and Communications was told to direct press agencies to step up the dissemination of laws on road and railway traffic infrastructure and condemn illegal use of pavements, roads, destructing of traffic works and illegal use of road and railway shoulders.

The PM also asked the People’s Committees of provinces and centrally-run cities to issue plans in 2017 and direct departments and branches to hold an action month on laws and violations of road shoulders.

The country recorded more than 4,100 deaths on the roads in the first half of this year, according to the National Committee for Traffic Safety. The fatalities came from more than 9,500 traffic accidents nationwide, with 7,900 people injured.

There were 151 train accidents during the period, killing 70 people.

According to the Directorate for Roads of Việt Nam, common violations of road and railway shoulders include illegal constructions and illegal crossings.

Currently, there are 1,498 legal crossings and 4,305 illegal crossing on rail routes nationwide, according to figures from the Việt Nam Railway Corporation.

Deputy Minister of Transport Nguyễn Ngọc Đông, speaking at a meeting held earlier this year said that apart from increasing guards at rail crossings, the rail sector should also install convex mirrors and use brighter signals at locomotives and crossings to make them more noticeable.

In the long term, measures should be taken to eliminate illegal crossings, automatic barriers should be added to prevent accidents and more content on railway traffic in car driving manuals and testing programmes should be added, he said.

Director General of the Việt Nam Railway Corporation (VRC) Vũ Tá Tùng, speaking at a different meeting held last month in Hà Nội, said the VRC would increase inspections to deal with violations, improve hot spots of traffic accidents and use more signal boards to warn people.

During the action month held by the VRC between May and June to tackle violations of railway safety regulations, it cleared 373 of more than 11,800 points of railway shoulder violation spots.  

Việt Nam aims to cut the number of traffic accidents and deaths by 5-10 per cent every year and lower the number of severe crashes related to coaches and motorbikes between 2016 and 2020. 

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. 

President emphasises task of caring for revolutionary contributors

The Party and State always pay attention to caring for wounded and sick soldiers, and families of the martyrs, who laid down their lives for national independence, freedom and peace, President Tran Dai Quang has said. 

The President made the emphasis in a piece of writing on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of War Invalids and Martyrs' Day (July 27), in which he praised the great contributions of revolutionary contributors, and highlighted the tradition of taking care of those with credit to the nation.

Policies and regulations on supporting national revolutionary contributors in terms of health care and education have been implemented effectively throughout localities, as have had communications campaigns related, he said.

Cemeteries and monuments dedicated to martyrs nationwide have been upgraded and embellished, while the search, collection and identification of martyrs’ remains has been carried out with the greatest efforts, he added.

Apart from presenting gifts to wounded and sick soldiers, and their relatives, many organisations and individuals have actively joined in movements to help improve the spiritual and material lives of revolutionary contributors. 

Thanks to tireless efforts, up to 97 percent of revolutionary contributors’ families have a living standard that is equal to or higher than the average in their residential areas. Many families of revolutionary contributors have made remarkable achievements in poverty reduction and economic development, contributing to the national socio-economic development.

In the writing, President Quang also stressed the need for the whole people to get involved in the caring work.

He called for more efforts to continue implementing effectively policies of the Party and State on assisting revolutionary contributors, focusing on widely popularising relevant policies and prominent outcomes in the work. 

He also asked relevant sectors to review and perfect revolutionary contributors-related policies, enabling the beneficiaries to enjoy fully preferential treatments.

"Great sacrifices and contributions of war martyrs, wounded and sick soldiers, and their families are inscribed everlastingly in the heart of each Vietnamese, serving as a valuable spiritual encouragement source for the whole Party, people and army to successfully implement the national renovation, industrialisation and modernisation cause and international integration,” he concluded.

Party chief visits nursing centre for revolutionary contributors

Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong visited a nursing centre for revolutionary contributors in Vien Ngoai village, Hanoi’s Ung Hoa district, on July 25, ahead of the 70th anniversary of War Invalids and Martyrs Day (July 27, 1947).

On behalf of Party and State leaders, the Party chief lauded efforts made by the centre’s staff in caring for war invalids and martyrs’ family members.

Trong expressed his sympathy for the losses endured by those people, who are receiving treatment at the facility, and told them that they should be proud of what they and their relatives have contributed to the nation’s revolution achievements.  

He made visits to every single room at the centre, talking and presenting gifts to the residents.

Established in 1978, the nursing facility now houses 55 revolutionary contributors, including heroic mothers and invalids.

Public security ministry reviews July operation

The Ministry of Public Security reported on July 25 that its force brought to light 3,832 criminal cases and arrested 7,727 people involved and smashed 198 criminal rings in July.

The force also uncovered 1,585 cases related to economic affairs and corruption in the month, 333 more cases than the figure recorded in June, and dealt with 215 organizations and 1,563 individuals having violated the environment law.

In the reviewed month, they busted 2,257 drug-related cases, apprehending 3,257 people involved and seizing 47.9 kg of heroin, 77.1 kg and 50,319 pills of methamphetamine.

Meanwhile, traffic policemen handled 388,303 violations of traffic law, giving administrative fines worth 244.7 billion VND and seizing 61,698 vehicles.

These figures were unveiled at the ministry’s meeting to review its July performance and deploy tasks in August.

Minister To Lam asked local policemen to concentrate on ensuring public order and security for activities to be held during the August Revolution and National Day anniversaries.

They are required to continue implementing security plans for the upcoming APEC Economic Leaders’ Week in Da Nang as well as other activities of the APEC Year. 

Lam also asked the force to intensify the management of entry and exit of foreigners in a bid to proactively detect and prevent reactionaries and terrorists from entering the country.

Exhibition highlights efforts to care for national contributors

An exhibition was opened in Hanoi on July 25 to showcase documents, exhibits and photos on activities to show gratitude to war invalids, martyrs and national contributors on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of Invalids and Martyrs Day (July 27).

Visitors to the event will have chance to learn about the efforts made by late President Ho Chi Minh, Party, State leaders and the community to care for war invalids, martyrs’ families and revolutionary contributors, as well as major achievements in the work.

Particularly, images of six Vietnamese Heroic Mothers are exhibited, along with original letters and writings by soldiers in the “Vietnam’s War Letters” collection.

The event also introduces products of veterans and businesses owned by wounded veterans who have overcome all difficulties to contribute to the country’s socio-economic development.

A number of art and cultural activities will also be held within the framework of the event.

Addressing the opening, Deputy Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Vuong Duy Bien said that the exhibition aims to spread the patriotism tradition, and revolutionary heroism among the community, especially the young generation, thus mobilizing resources for improving living conditions of national contributors.

The exhibition will last until July 27.