Add-on rooms put residents in peril

Old residential buildings on Ha Noi's Nguyen Cong Tru Street. The safety of residents is threatened by the creation of extra "rooms" mostly carved out of balcony space, in residential buildings.

Many extra rooms, mostly carved out of balcony spaces, have been built in resettlement and residential quarters in Ha Noi affecting the buildings' and people's safety, according to local authorities.

Observations by the Vietnam News Agency's correspondent at the Den Lu 2 residential quarter in Ha Noi's Hoang Mai District showed that many add-on structures were built out of the apartment's balcony for several metres on the 17th and 18th floor causing dangerous conditions.

Pham Vinh Quang, head of the E Building in the residential quarter, said that building the expanded parts seriously affected the building's safety.

The management boards gave warning to the residents, but they still made it to have more space, he said.

The same situation happened at other residential quarters such as the Trung Hoa-Nhan Chinh resettlement quarter in Thanh Xuan District, the A6 Building in Giang Vo Ward in Ba Dinh District and the Xuan La resettlement quarter in Tay Ho District.

Nguyen Tam Thanh, who lives in the A6 Giang Vo Building, said that the building was built eight years ago, but so many people built add-on structures so the building was downgraded and looked like it was built in 1980s.

Pham Vinh Quang said that the ward had had a meeting with the Den Lu 2 residential quarter management board, and agreed that a punishment would be given to people building the add-on structures.

Dang Van Dung, chairman of the Hoang Van Thu Ward in Hoang Mai District which has the Den Lu 2 residential quarter, said that the ward authorities had checked the situation in the quarter, and found out that add-on structures were quite serious at the A1, A2, A3 and A4 buildings at the residential quarter.

Each of buildings had about 80 to 135 households building the add-on structures, he said.

In 2014, the ward authorities proposed the Ha Noi Housing Management and Development Co Ltd set up management boards for each building to control the situation, but did not reach agreements with the company.

A speaker of the Nhan Chinh Ward in Thanh Xuan District said that in 2009 to 2010, the construction inspectors and the ward authorities cut off electricity and water of violators, but then they set up the system on their own.

Tran Xuan Ha, deputy chairman of the Ha Noi Party Committee's Commission for Publicity and Education, said that building add-on structures affect the city's beauty and threaten the buildings' and people's safety, especially when a fire occurs.

Local authorities and concerned organisations should provide more education to raise people's awareness on the issue, he said.

If the people did not obey the regulations, local authorities must destroy the add-on structure based on the law, he said.

US-supported disability program benefited thousands of Vietnamese

Thousands of persons with disabilities in both rural and urban areas of Vietnam have enjoyed better health, education and livelihood opportunities as part of the support from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID)’s Persons with Disabilities Support Program.

“This part of our broader disabilities assistance portfolio has been vital to our continuing commitment to supporting persons with disabilities in Vietnam,” said USAID Mission Director Joakim Parker. “We are pleased that it has helped many persons with disabilities realize their potential through improved access to health care, education and employment opportunities.”

The three-year program, which was launched in 2012, focuses on direct assistance and building the capacity of local governments and local NGOs to provide a sustainable network of medical, education and employment services for persons with disabilities in eight provinces and cities, including Danang, Dong Nai, Binh Dinh, Quang Nam, Tay Ninh, Binh Phuoc, Thai Binh, and Thua-Thien Hue.

Working with the departments of labor, invalids, and social affairs, education and training, and health in these provinces and cities, the program has also built the long-term capacity of more than 4,700 health providers, educators, employers and social workers through training that helps them adequately address the needs of persons with disabilities in their communities.

The accomplishments of the cooperation under the program were the subject of a recent workshop attended by over 100 participants, including representatives from all the provinces where the project where provides assistance, and representatives from the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs and the Ministry of Health.

Since 1989, the United State Government has contributed $60 million in assistance to persons with disabilities in Vietnam. USAID recently announced six new projects serving Vietnamese with disabilities aimed at promoting health, social inclusion and disability rights.

Five Vietnamese injured in bus accident

Five Vietnamese were injured in a bus accident on Monday in Chaiyo District of Ang Thong Province, Thailand.

The accident occurred when the Bangkok-bound tour bus from Chiang Mai overturned on the Asia Highway in Chaiyo District. Two passengers were killed and 49 others injured.

Nguyen Duy Tam, 44, from Thua Thien – Hue, was seriously injured with three broken bones. Le Thu Ha, 43, from HCM City had her leg broken. Three others, Nguyen Trung Hau and Nguyen Van Khanh, from HCM City, and Vo Hoang Anh Vu, had minor injuries.

The driver said he fell asleep at the wheel while passing through Chaiyo district and lost control of the bus, which ran off the highway and overturned.

Two more people die from dengue fever

The HCM City Preventive Health Centre yesterday reported that two more people died from dengue fever last month, increasing the total number of deaths from the disease to seven since the beginning of the year.

As of this week, the total number of dengue fever cases had increased by 108 per cent compared to the same period last year. The city has had 17,800 cases this year.

Last week, about 1,000 cases were recorded, while there were nearly 900 cases in mid-October, Nguyen Tri Dung, the centre's head, said at a meeting with the press held in HCM City yesterday.

900kg of unlicensed animal organs seized

The market management force in Quang Ninh Northern Province seized a lorry transporting a large quantity of internal animal organs yesterday morning.

The lorry driver, Nguyen Dinh Vi, who was also the owner of 900 kilogrammes of animal organs, did not have a licence or document for these goods. Vi was living in Hung Yen's northern Province.

The unlicensed goods cost roughly VND18 million (US$780).

Market officials said these internal animal organs were also contaminated.

They fined the owner VND8 million for trading in unlicensed and contaminated foods.

New expressway opens to traffic today

The newly built Ha Noi-Hai Phong expressway opens to traffic today (December 5).

The total investment in the expressway project was roughly VND45,480 billion (US$2 billion), funded by a Vietnam Development Bank loan.

A 75km section of the six-lane expressway opened to traffic late in September. The remaining 35km section, linking Ha Noi's beltway No 3 with Hung Yen Province's National Highway No 39, was finished later.

Dao Van Chien, chairman of the board of directors of the Viet Nam Infrastructure Development and Finance Investment Joint Stock Company, the main project contractor, said the Ha Noi-Hai Phong Expressway met all requirements in terms of technical design and parameters.

All toll stations along the expressway will be equipped with weighing systems and expressway roadside. The project investor has signed co-operation agreements with the police departments of the provinces through which the expressway passes to maintain security.

The construction of the expressway -- which will be 105.5km long, 33m wide and have a speed limit of 120km per hour -- began in May 2008.

Fifty-four bridges, 108 sullage pits and nine intersections are being built as part of the project.

Mekong Delta region gets new heart hospital

Heart patients in the Mekong Delta will no longer have to travel to Ho Chi Minh City to undergo cardiac procedures or surgeries.

The southern Can Tho City has just opened a heart hospital to serve both local and regional needs.

The new hospital will provide checks and treatment for cardiovascular disease to people of Can Tho City and other provinces in the Mekong Delta, in order to reduce patient overload and help people save travel costs.

Currently, the Mekong Delta has only one cardiac hospital, located in An Giang Province. However, the hospital can serve only local patients.

The patients in other provinces and cities have to get checks-ups and treatment in the cardiology divisions of local hospitals.

However, none of the regional hospitals or medical centres can perform cardiology intervention or cardiovascular surgeries. Therefore, patients have to go to Ho Chi Minh City for more specialised procedures.

According to statistics from Can Tho General Hospital, its cardiology division receives at least 100 to 135 patients daily, leading to patient overload.

The new hospital has 50 beds and 10 divisions, including three function rooms, a clinic, an intensive care unit and an anti-toxic department, besides a cardiology division, a functional exploration area, a testing unit and diagnostic imaging and infection control divisions.

Social network becomes local press's partnership, competitor

Social networks can be a tool for local press as well as a major competitor. They can put big pressure on the press to adapt with the development of social network.

How to compete with the speed of information shared by social networks, how to quickly use diverse information from social networks but still ensure the accuracy of information, were hot topics that at a press conference organised this morning in Ha Noi by the Viet Nam Journalist Association and Nguoi Lam Bao (Journalist) Magazine.

Dinh Thi Thuy Hang, director of the association's Journalism Training Centre said the reading habits of people were changing. People read news via shared links on their social network's account rather than accessing a newspaper's website.

Press agencies need to change to keep up with this change, such as posting news via social network accounts to reach readers, she said.

Nguyen Thanh Loi, editor-in-chief of the magazine said that despite the pressure of competing with social network's information-sharing speed, journalists had to fact check before using information from social networks.

Nguyen Dinh Hau, from the Journalism and Communications Department of the Ha Noi National University, said press agencies were advised to instantly update news to ensure they compete with social networks, he said.

Press agencies were also advised to partner with social network providers, he said.

Statistics from wearesocial.net, announced in January, showed that Vietnamese people ranked ninth globally in spending 3.1 hours daily on social network.

Can Tho to ensure food safety during Tet

Can Tho plans to invest VND464 billion (US$21 million) to ensure food safety during Tet (Lunar New Year), Vice-Chairman of the city's People's Committee Truong Quang Hoai Nam has said.

The funds would be used to set up inspection groups, provide training on food safety and hygiene to food manufacturing companies, and to carry out campaigns to raise people's awareness about food safety, according to the official.

Hoai said the department of transportation would prepare proper plans to help trucks transporting goods during Tet, such as by establishing more parking lots in the inner city to reduce the time required for fresh foods to be transported to stores.

"The department should not set up parking lots in roads and streets where there could be traffic congestion and cause restriction in the number of trucks operating during rush hour," he said.

Director of the agricultural and rural development department Pham Van Huynh said they would coordinate closely with the department of industry and trade to carry out regular and surprise inspections at abattoirs, vegetable and animal breeding farms.

"The names and addresses of food production facilities that meet food safety and hygiene standards will be publicised so that customers can make better purchase choices," Huynh said.

Bus ticket prices to increase during upcoming Tet

Bus ticket prices will increase by as much as 60 per cent during Tet (Lunar New Year), a representative of the Mien Dong Bus Station in HCM City has said.

Thượng Thanh Hải, deputy director of MTV- Mien Dong Bus Station Ltd. Company said the ticket prices will be up from 20 per cent to 60 per cent, depending on the route.

He said that in preparation of the Tet 2016 festival falling on February, 8, 2016, Mien Dong Bus Station's management board had met with representatives from transport companies to discuss on a comfortable services plan, meeting the increasing demand of travelling.

The number of passengers travelling during this holiday is expected to rise mainly on routes from Binh Dinh central province to southern provinces and the Central Highlands region.

However, the number of passengers travelling during the upcoming Tet is forecast to be equal or decrease slightly compared to the number in the last Tet.

The number of buses serving passengers during the occasion will be increased to 14,045, according to the bus station's management board.

The most wanted 20 days during the Tet holidays are ten days before and ten days after Tet, falling between January 29 and February 17, 2016.

Tickets will be available in advance from 5am to 7pm on all days between January 10, and February 4, 2016.

If passengers do not book tickets in advance, they can buy tickets on the day of their journey, but they will have to wait for tickets depending on the route.

Screenings needed for blood disorder

A 28-year-old woman from HCM City's Go Vap District who has an inherited blood disorder called thalassemia was reluctant to take her daughter to the hospital for a screening test, even though she knew about the inherent dangers associated with the disease.

"I can't afford to pay for treatments for my daughter, if she is diagnosed," the woman, who declined to give her name, said. Her youngest son was diagnosed with thalassemia during a routine hospital visit for a fever.

The woman is one of many parents with thalassemia who do not schedule screening tests for their children because of a lack of money, and in some cases, lack of awareness about the disease, according to Dr Phu Chi Dung, the hospital's head.

Speaking at a forum held last Sunday in HCM City by Blood Transfusion Haematology Hospital, he said that tests were needed to detect thalassemia, including a blood count, haemoglobin electrophoresis, and mutational analysis.

"If they have a severe form of the disease, they could develop serious complications such as heart, liver or thyroid failure," he said, adding that deaths from heart failure account for 50-70 per cent of all deaths from thalassemia.

Left untreated, the disease can affect both physical health and cognitive abilities.

Many parents in Viet Nam wait until their children show symptoms, such as paleness, frequent infections, and poor appetite, before taking them to the hospital for screening.

"The awareness of the disease among people is very low," Dung said, adding that when doctors ask family members to take blood tests, they often refuse to do so.

Dung said the government should set up a national programme to screen the population at high risk of developing the disease.

It is estimated that five million people in the country have the gene for thalassemia but are not aware of it.

If two people with thalassemia marry, the risk of the children inheriting the gene increases. If both parents have either thalassemia minor or intermedia, the children's risk of inheriting the gene is 50 per cent. There is a 25 per cent chance of not inheriting the gene at all, and a 25 per cent chance of developing thalassemia major, the severe form of the disease.

With thalassemia minor, patients do not have any symptoms. Patients with thalassemia minor and intermedia do not need blood transfusions, but they must be tested once a year.

Patients with the severe form of thalassemia, which has no cure, need regular blood transfusions to boost haemoglobin levels in the blood. Because the transfusions can lead to a build-up of iron and cause serious side effects, iron chelation tablets are taken daily to remove excess iron.

The only chance of a cure is a bone marrow transplant, but the cost is between US$25,000 and $30,000 and the risks of a graft rejection or even death, particularly among older patients, is considerable.

The optimal age for bone marrow transplants is between four and seven years old. For older patients, the success rate is only 50-60 per cent.

Some hospitals in Viet Nam have performed bone marrow transplants.

"It is very important to reduce new incidences by increasing screening before marriage and birth in order to reduce pressure on the health sector and family," he said.

If a foetus has the severe form of thalassemia, it should be aborted, he said.

Each year, there are 2,000 new incidences in the country. The Blood Transfusion and Haematology Hospital in HCM City alone diagnoses 1,000 cases a year.

"This has caused an overload at the hospital and pressure on blood banks, as well as high social costs," Dung said, adding that early screening and a course of treatment will help improve the quality of life.

To reduce overload at the Blood Transfusion Haematology Hospital, training courses on thalassemia treatment are organised by the hospital for doctors in provinces and city districts every year.

"When health facilities in provinces have qualified doctors and facilities for treatment of the disease, patients will not have to travel to the Blood Transfusion Haematology Hospital in HCM City," he said.

In HCM City, Binh Tan District Hospital's doctors can treat thalassemia minor and intermedia.

In the near future, Tan Phu, Thu Duc and District 2 hospitals in HCM City will also be able to offer the same treatment services.

Bridges make travel to rural schools easier

Students no longer have to go to school by boat in some rural areas in the Mekong Delta after 39 bridges were built from funds donated by the HCM City Charity Women's Association.

A representative of the Association for Victims of Agent Orange/Dioxin in Ca Mau Province, which is a beneficiary of the Charity Women Association's bridge building programme, said that 17 of the bridges were built within the last five years.

They have helped residents travel and transport agricultural products more easily.

Several students who had travelled to school by boat died from drowning.

The bridges have also helped the development of rural roads, according to the Association for Victims of Agent Orange/Dioxin.

The Charity Women's Association has also donated a charity house and hundreds of gifts to victims of Agent Orange/Dioxin.

In addition to Ca Mau Province, rural areas in other provinces of Vinh Long, Long An, Dong Thap, Ben Tre and An Giang benefit from the bridge building programme.

The Charity Women's Association has carried out many programmes such as loans, scholarships and vocational training, social relief and another for children.

In the last five years, it has raised funds of more than VND14 billion (US$622,200) for a social relief programme. Nutritious meals for the elderly living in the city's outlying districts were offered.

MARD to raise forest planter incomes

The forestry sector has a high export turnover of US$3.5-4 billion per year but forest planters still earn a low income, reported the Nong Thon Ngay Nay (Countryside Today).

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) has drawn out a restructuring plan for the forestry sector, with one of the targets aiming to increase forest planters' income.

The income increase will help forest planters be fully devoted to their job, MARD's officials told the newspaper.

The restructuring project sets targets of increasing production value to 4-4.5 per cent annually, providing timber for domestic and export demands, creating jobs, improving income, contributing to hunger eradication, poverty reduction and environmental protection.

The total area of forest will reach 16.5 million ha by 2020, the plan noted.

According to MARD Forestry General Department statistics, the sector's production value has had a growth rate of 6.7 per cent (in period of 2013-15) as compared to 5.3 per cent of the period of 2010-12.

Notably, the sector had a growth rate of 7.8 per cent in September. This was the highest growth rate since 2010. The sector plants 200,000ha of forest every year.

However, the forestry economy makes up a little more than 3 per cent of the total agricultural production sector, said the department.

In recent years forest area has been increasing but the forests were scattering. Meanwhile, most natural forests have small trees which have low economic value.

The Department's deputy head Nguyen Ba Ngai said at present, annual income from forestry was about VND7-8 million ($320-360) per ha, which caused difficulties for forest planters.

"At present, income from forestry product is just 25 per cent of the total income of farmers", said Ngai, adding that the forestry sector had not been developed due to several reasons including small-scale production, lack of processing industry, modest State investment, outdated technologies, low quality saplings, and divided markets.

Vo Truong Thanh, Chairman of Management Board of Truong Thanh Group, who has long been involved in forest planting, said one of the biggest challenges for forest planters was capital investment.

At present, banks did not accept forest land as mortgage for loans, said Thanh

The Government should offered planters preferential loans so they can focus on forest development, he said.

Quang Nam dyke to guard against coastal landslides

Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc said drastic measures were needed to tackle the landslides along Cua Dai Beach in Quang Nam Province during his visit to the site yesterday.

Phuc asked relevant ministries and agencies to grant the central province VND40 billion (US$ 1.77 million) as soon as possible to build a 1.3km sea dyke along Cua Dai Beach.

Chairman of the provincial People's Committee Dinh Van Thu said the landslides had become more dangerous since early last month.

Landslides occurred just 200m from the road and reached restaurants and hotels along the coast, he said.

He said besides funding from the state budget, the province planned to spend about VND15 billion on building the sea dyke.

According to the agriculture and rural development ministry, landslides in estuaries or along the coast were serious and caused by climate change and human activities.

A representative of the natural resources and environment ministry said eight hydropower plants in the upper sections of Thu Bon River in the central region had changed the balance of mud and sand in the river's lower sections, causing coastal landslides.

Deputy PM Phuc asked relevant agencies to study the problem and propose solutions. He asked the local authority to take preventive measures to ensure the safety of people and property.

In a related development, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has granted VND361.76 billion ($16 million) to help 27 provinces across the country to tackle environment pollution.

The beneficiaries include the northern provinces of Ha Giang, Cao Bang, Dien Bien and Lai Chau, besides Phu Tho; the central provinces of Nghe An, Ha Tinh, Quang Binh and Quang Tri, besides Thua Thien Hue; and the southern provinces of Dong Thap, An Giang, Ben Tre and Long An, besides Soc Trang.

Rare wood seized in Thua Thien-Hue Province

Traffic police in the central Thua Thien-Hue Province today found a truck travelling on the South-North route to be illegally transporting 3cu.m of rare and protected wood.

The wood, with the scientific name of afzelia xylocarpa, is listed as an endangered species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

The wood was hidden under a load of straw and chestnuts in the truck, the police said.

The truck was being driven by Nguyen Dinh Tinh, 34, a resident of Gia Lai Province's Kbang District. Tinh was unable to show legal documents for the wood.

Police seized the wood and are continuing their investigation.

Commonly known as doussie, afzelia xylocarpa is favoured for making furniture and as ship-building and housing material, thanks to its unique quality, colour and grain. The tree's bark is used in the tanning industry.

Earlier, on Sunday morning, the traffic police in Thua Thien-Hue Province discovered that a passenger bus was transporting 265kg of huong (fragrant) wood or Narra Padauk, and other kinds of wood on National Highway 1A.

The bus was going from Da Nang to Quang Tri.

The wood, weighing nearly one tonne, was hidden in the bus' luggage storage area.

The drive failed to show legal documents for the wood. He told the police that he was hired by a trader in Dac Lak Province to transport the wood to Ha Noi for consumption.

There is a ban on trading in Narra Padauk, a rare type of wood.

EC programme promotes disaster risk management in VN

The European Commission humanitarian aid department's 17-year community-based disaster risk management programmes (DIPECHO) in Viet Nam have achieved remarkable results, a conference was heard today in Ha Noi.

Since 1998, DIPECHO has provided 13.2 million euros (nearly US$14 million) through 41 grants under nine action plans, supporting disaster preparedness and risk reduction projects carried out by the European Union, international NGOs, Red Cross societies and the United Nations Development Programme in 23 provinces and in three cities of Viet Nam.

"DIPECHO projects have been used as essential tools to promote the practice of disaster risk reduction (DRR), specifically improving awareness on DRR actions in Viet Nam," Viet Nam Red Cross (VNRC) Deputy General Secretary Dang Minh Chau said.

Chau said DIPECHO projects have assisted the government of Viet Nam's programmes, specifically the National Strategy for Natural Disaster Prevention and Mitigation and Control.

As result of these actions, the Prime Minister approved the government's decision 1002 in July 2009, on the national programme on raising community awareness and community-based disaster risk management (CBDRM). A vulnerability and capacity assessment process and training was developed by the VNRC as an important tool in the national CBDRM programme.

DIPECHO said during the severe flooding of the Mekong Delta provinces in 2011, fewer children drowned as they were better protected because of a School Flood Safety Programme and the adoption of child-friendly DRR approaches in school extra-curricular and curricular activities.

A Joint Advocacy Network Initiative (JANI) was created by DIPECHO partners to support the Vietnamese government in promoting the CBDRM approach in the country. A DIPECHO project on typhoon-resilient construction in the central Thua Thien-Hue Province, carried out by the Development Workshop France (DWF), showed 98 per cent of the houses built with innovative safe construction practices withstood typhoons. This model, adopted by the provincial department of construction, has been replicated in other provinces.

Company continues to help "healthy heart operation" programme

Lixil Viet Nam Ltd today donated VND1 billion (US$45,000) in support of the Tam long Viet (Vietnamese Heart) Fund's healthy heart operation.

The programme provides surgeries for underprivileged children in Viet Nam with congenital heart diseases.

The funding will be used to perform 25-30 surgeries for children aged under 16, whose families are too poor to afford the operations.

This donation has brought the company's total contribution to the fund to VND6.2 billion ($275,000) over the past six years.

To date, the fund has raised more than VND90 billion ($4 million) and provided heart surgeries nationwide to 2,700 poor children with congenital heart disease, the fund director Nguyen Thuy Cam said.

Cam added that the fund expected to receive more support from the business community and society in order to save more needy children in Viet Nam.

Initiated by the Vietnamese Heart Fund, the Viet Nam Television and Viettel Group in 2008, the programme targeted providing heart surgeries to 3,000 needy children in Viet Nam by 2020.

The Ministry of Health statistics said 8,000-10,000 infants were born with congenital heart defects each year in Viet Nam and some 20,000 children in the country are still waiting for surgery.

PM grants more funds for resettlement project

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has approved two road construction projects, and has granted more than VND629 billion (US$28 million) for the resettlement process under the Son La Hydropower Plant Project.

One of the two roads to be built will connect the districts of Muong Lay and Nam Nhun in the northern Dien Bien Province. The other construction work will upgrade the northern Son La Province's provincial highway 107 that links Chieng Pac Commune and Phieng Lanh Town.

The road projects are expected to improve transport links in resettlement areas of people who gave up their homes voluntarily for the construction of the Son La Hydro Power Plant, the largest project in Southeast Asia.

The plant became operational on December 23, 2012, after seven years of construction, and three years earlier than scheduled. With a total investment of VND60 trillion (approximately US$2.85 billion), the 2,400MW Son La Hydropower Plant has six generators. Every year, it will create a turnover of US$500 million and save more than five million tonnes of coal, needed to produce an equivalent amount of electricity. Moreover, the plant will supply on average 10.2 billion kWh a year to the national grid.

About 20,340 ethnic households in Dien Bien, Son La and Lai Chau provinces voluntarily moved to other areas, giving up their land for the construction of the plant.

Under the resettlement project approved by Prime Minister in 2013, there are 78 resettlement areas. As of last August, more than 40,000 affected households and 232 organisations were given a total of VND7 trillion (US$311.2 million) as compensation.

The newly approved VND629-billion fund is expected to fill the funding shortage so that the resettlement project can be completed by the end of this year.

Consumers warned about unlicensed food test kits

The Ministry of Health's Department of Food Safety has warned consumers to be cautious of buying food testing kits as many of them were not licenced by the authorities.

The Ministry of Health (MoH) body for food safety said on Monday that in the recent days some products of quick test kits for food advertised on websites maydoantoanthucpham.net and maydothucpham.com were fake, imitated or exaggerated over their licences.

The department gave an example of SOEKS NUC-091-1, one such test kit, which issued instructions on its use allowing customers to get quick tests on nitrate residues in fresh fruits and raw meat made in Russia and imported by a Vietnamese and Russian export-import limited company.

Actually, the authority said, such products were not licenced by any authority or under management of any companies as it said on the label.

Therefore, the authority warned customers not to buy such products, and said they should be very careful when using quick test kits for food, as there were various types in the market without licences from the Ministry of Health.

Food safety remains an unsolved problem in Viet Nam, especially during Tet holiday, experts said,

warning that more and more samples of meat, vegetables and seafood have been found failing hygiene and quality standards recently, threatening the health of local people.

The national food safety strategy from 2011 to 2020 aimed to improve public awareness of such a pressing issue. The strategy aimed to have 70 per cent of food producers and traders, and 80 per cent of managers of concerned agencies, and 70 per cent of consumers, complying with the food safety regulations.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has estimated that Viet Nam loses VND340 billion ($15.96 million) from food poisoning annually.

Improving tourism services a top priority

Developing professional human resources staff for the tourism industry is an important step for Viet Nam as a member of the ASEAN Economic Community, officials of the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT) said at a press conference on Wednesday in HCM City.

Viet Nam is taking part in the Mutual Recognition Agreement on Tourism Professionals (MRA-TP) in ASEAN, said Tran Phu Cuong, deputy director of the International Co-operation Department under the VNAT.

ASEAN has formed a set of vocational standards and training curriculum for most labour-intensive tourist professions.

They have also established the ASEAN Tourism Professional Monitoring Committee to implement MRA-TP.

The ASEAN secretariat is establishing a formation of registration and software system to assess the tourism labour capacity on the basis of diplomas and certificates.

When the system finishes, allowing the free flow of labourers in the hospitality industry, Viet Nam can recruit skilled tourism workers from ASEAN countries and vice versa.

According to Cuong, Viet Nam has carried its responsibility sufficiently.

Viet Nam's tourism sector has been preparing its human resources for the formation of the ASEAN Community at the end of this year.

Hoang Tuan Anh, Minister of the Culture, Sports, and Tourism, has sent a diplomatic note to the ASEAN Secretary-General that informs the Viet Nam Tourism Certification Board that it has been assigned to perform activities of the Tourism Council and Evaluation and Vocational Certification Council as required by MRA-TP.

The country has signed the agreement establishing the regional secretariat to implement the MRA-TP.

Ha Van Sieu, deputy head of the VNAT, said that tourism was one of the pioneer economic industries preparing for ASEAN integration.

The implementation of MRA-TP opens tourism labour transfer.

Sieu added that in order to take advantage of the MRA-TP and the tourism integration in ASEAN, the country needs to improve human resources, enhance competitiveness of tourism companies and training establishments, and focus on policies to keep talented workers.

On the same day, Le Truong Hien Hoa, director of the HCM City Tourism Promotion Centre (TPC) said at a conference on solutions to enhance the quality of city's tourism promotion that the city will establish two tourist information centres at the September 23rd Park and Bach Dang Port in the city's downtown.

They will offer tour information, and receive and deal with feedback from domestic and international visitors.

TPC will also establish a website in both Vietnamese and English with tourism information.

Over 50 firefighters hospitalised after extinguishing a blaze

More than 50 firefighters were hospitalised after an operation to extinguish a blaze at Nam Hai Port, an official of the Fire Fighting and Prevention Department of Hai Phong said.

Initial results showed that soldiers had inhaled the toxic phosphorus fumes, and were suffering manifestations of respiratory failure, Brigadier Le Quoc Tran, director of the department said yesterday.

He said a crane dropped a container onto Contship ACE ship which was carrying about 20 containers of phosphorus docked at Nam Hai Port of this northern port city to complete a goods delivery on Friday afternoon.

The collision was so strong that it cracked a phosphorus container on board which caught fire.

Immediately after the fire occurred, the unit sent more than 100 soldiers to extinguish the blaze. As the fire spread to a large area, many of the soldiers did not have the respiratory mask, but still took part in the operations.

After the fire was put out, dozens of firefighters reported symptoms such as headaches, nausea and breathlessness. Of these, two soldiers had severe respiratory problems and were taken to emergency department at Viet Tiep Hospital, while 50 other policemen were transferred to the Hai Phong Medical University Hospital for treatment.

Sunk clinker-carrying vessel towed away

Rescuers this morning towed away a clinker-carrying vessel that sank in Cam River, northern Hai Phong Province on Saturday night after colliding with an oil-laden vessel.

According to Hai Phong Port Authority, the vessel NB 2159, carrying more than 900 tonnes of cement clinker from northern Hai Duong province to Quang Ninh Province, collided with the oil-laden vessel of SENCO Marine Services and Trade Ltd Company at 11.30pm on Saturday. The crew on the boat was rescued soon after.

The oil-laden vessel was also badly damaged.

The collision halted waterway traffic at Binh Ferry Station on Cam River for hours.

Police is investigating the case.

Visitors destroy Ha Noi flower valley

With hope that people living in Ha Noi can contemplate triangle oat flowers, the famous flower of northern mountainous provinces, Bui Manh Hieu, owner of the West Lake Flower Valley decided to open his garden for free for a week from last Friday to this Thursday.

But after only two days, Hieu had to stop his programme because too many people flocked into the garden and destroyed the flowers. From a beautiful and romantic valley, it become a desolate one.

Hieu said that on Sunday, the valley made a record as it received more than 7,000 visitors who came to take photographs, which far exceeded Hieu's expectation.

"We could not control the situation and it became bad," he said.

The valley was crowded the most from 11am to 3pm on Sunday.

Hieu had to assign more workers to look after visitors' vehicles and flowers, but it wasn't enough because too many people came and stepped on the flowers.

"We suffered great losses, the losses could not be counted by money or efforts because the flowers can not be re-planted to welcome the Lunar New Year festival, which will fall in the beginning of February next year," he said.

"It also means that our plan for the festival fell to pieces and it will affect the valley's turnover," he said.

Hieu added that he was very sad because of the visitors' low consideration.

Ethnic group worships baby souls

Vietnamese people have the customs of worship ancestors and the souls of people who have died.

But the Van Kieu ethnic minorities in mountainous districts in the central province of Quang Tri have an unique custom of worshiping living people.

Ho Van Hung, former deputy director of the Public Relations Division under the Dakrong District Party Committee, said that whenever a child is born, he/she receives a bathing ceremony when he/she is three days old. The family then prays to an alter of ancestors for permission to place the baby's soul in a porcelain bowl. The family also offers up two chickens to the ancestors.

When he/she was one month old, he/she would receive the naming ceremony and the family would place the baby's soul on the alter. At this time, a pig would be offered.

As the child grows, his/her soul would be worshiped in a bigger and bigger bowl, said Hung.

Hung said that the worshiping is aimed at asking the deities to protect that person.

In Van Kieu people's thinking, worshiping live people's soul is as important as worshiping dead people. Thus the altar must be put at a highest place in their house.

The altar is cleaned only once a year when the Lunar New Year festival comes.

AESC become FAA Certified Repair Station

On 1 December, the US Federal Aviation Administration in collaboration with the US Embassy in Vietnam officially presented the Certificate of FAA Certified Repair Station (FAR Part 145) to Aerospace Engineering Services Joint Stock Company (AESC).

Vietnam Deputy Minister of Construction Nguyen Nhat, US Commercial Counsellor to Vietnam Stuart Schaag, Director of the Flight Safety Standards Department of Director of Civil Aviation Administration of Vietnam Ho Minh Tan, Senior FAA Representative North Asia Christopher Collins were among officials attended the Ceremony together with AESC partners, customers, other distinguished guests, the media, AESC Management and staff.

With the vision of becoming an internationally recognized aviation service provider, service quality is always one of the top priorities at AESC and highest safety standards of the industry is what AESC wishes to achieve.

At the Ceremony, Mr Dang, the AESC Managing Director said “AESC is a privately held company founded in 2008, certified by CAAV as a VAR Part 145 Maintenance Organization and started providing its MRO service to airlines within Vietnam in Feb 2009.

However, it took over 6 years for the Company to be certified by European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) as Part 145 Approved Maintenance Organization. This time, after almost a year with 5 phases of strict certification process, we have proved to be fully complied with FAA requirements and finally got this highly respected Certificate”

This important event is another milestone that presents a remarkable step forward in the development and international integration of  Vietnam aviation industrial in general and AESC  in particularly, making the Company to be the first-ever maintenance organization in Vietnam certified by both EASA and FAA. With these certification, AESC is now capable of providing MRO services to customers within Vietnam and the region with high quality of international standards.

AESC currently provides MRO services for aircraft components such as: wheel and brake, oxygen cylinder, aircraft seats and galley inserts like oven, boiler, coffee maker to customers within Vietnam: Vietnam Airlines, JetstarPacific, Vietjet Air, VASCO…and customers in the neighboring countries: Lao Airlines, Cambodia Angkor Air, Sky Angkor Air, Bassaka Air, Air Bagan, EGAT,…

Apart from MRO services, AESC also expands its capabilities to other businesses like designing and manufacturing of aircraft interior equipment, manufacturing of ground support equipment, aviation consultancy and especially in aviation training by cooperating with Eagle Flight Training Limited of New Zealand for pilot training, Mil- com Aerospace Group of Singapore for basic technical training for aircraft maintenance technicians and other specialized aviation training.

With much of the focus on enhancing its staff’s quality by continuously training, making use of internal resources for effective operation, paying special attention to develop human resources to ensure sustainable development, AESC is step by step reaching aviation market in the region and worldwide.

North and northern central regions facing chilly weather

Extreme cold conditions will probably occur in the north of Viet Nam on Friday and Saturday (December 4 and 5), the National Centre for Hydro-meteorological Forecasting has said.

Northern central, and northern mountainous provinces will see temperatures drop by 13 degrees due to the impact of severe cold spells.

Extremely cold weather with heavy rains will occur, and provincial authorities have put into place measures to protect human and animal health, and crops.

Light rains began in north-eastern provinces, with wind levels between 6 and 7.

State of World Population report sets new agenda

The health needs of women and adolescents are too often neglected in humanitarian responses to natural disasters and conflicts around the world.

This happens even though the fact whether women and girls live or die in a crisis often depends on access to basic sexual and reproductive health services such as midwives and HIV prevention.

These are part of the findings of The State of World Population 2015 report, which was released today in Hue City in the central Thua Thien-Hue Province by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) in collaboration with the Centre for the Central Youth and Adolescents and the General Office for Population and Family Planning under the health ministry.

The State of World Population 2015 report, entitled "Shelter from the Storm," shows that of the 100 million people in need of humanitarian assistance around the world today, about 26 million are women and adolescent girls in their childbearing years.

Sexual and reproductive health services critical to the health and survival of women and adolescents are scarcest at the time they are needed most, the report says. Three-fifths of the maternal deaths today occur in countries that are considered fragile because of conflict or disasters. Pregnancy and childbirth kill 507 women every day in these settings.

Protecting the health and rights of women and adolescents is not only critical to weathering the worsening storm of wars and natural disasters, but can also accelerate recovery from crises, the UNFPA report says.

The current shelters, according to the UNFPA report, are unable to protect all those who need it.

In 2014, for example, the United Nations required a record US$19.5 billion to respond to humanitarian situations around the world, but faced a record $7.5-billion shortfall, jeopardising the health and lives of millions of people.

A pathway to resilience is equitable, inclusive development that protects rights, including reproductive rights, the report says.

Addressing the event held to release the report, UNFPA Acting Representative in Viet Nam Ritsu Nacken said, "Viet Nam is one of the most hazard-prone countries in the Asia and Pacific region. With its long coastline and approximately 70% of the population living in the coastal areas and low-lying deltas, it is said to be one of the five countries in the world that are most affected by climate change. Therefore, Viet Nam needs to prepare well for responding to natural disasters effectively, while ensuring that the critical needs of women and girls are not overlooked at the onset of emergencies."

We should step up investments in prevention and preparedness to mitigate the impact of future crises, she said.

"Humanitarian response, if it's done in a way that promotes gender equality and meets everyone's needs, including the sexual and reproductive health needs of women and adolescent girls, can lay the foundation for rapid recovery and resilient development," she said.

Authorities increase investigation of suspected smuggled goods

Police in co-operation with market management and smuggling prevention authorities are intensifying their investigations of a large number of goods suspected of being smuggled into the capital city.

The Ha Noi market management unit 4, in co-operation with the task-force 359 under the Steering Committee for Smuggling, Trade Frauds and Fake Goods Prevention and Ha Noi Police 113, on Wednesday found the consignments weighing dozens of tonnes being stored in a warehouse Ha Noi's Long Bien District.

The consignments including a variety of imported candies, cosmetics, supplementary food and many others household appliances, were suspected of being smuggled with fake goods because their owners could not provide any legal documents to authorities.

Most of the goods were covered with foreign language labels but without Vietnamese instructions considered as sub-labels for imported goods as assigned in market legislations, an official from the Ministry of Health's Food Safety Department, which was also involved in the investigations, said.

Dr Nguyen Thanh Phong, the department's director, said there had been no final confirmation on the legal origins of the consignments and authorities were still investigating.

Phong said if the authorities discovered any violations, the owners would have to suffer severe punishment as it was relating to a very large number of goods.

Initial reports from the market management unit 4 revealed that one such consignment belonged to Thanh Hoa Investment and Commerce Ltd Company with Mai Thi Quynh Hoa as the manager.

However, according to the manager, her company hired the warehouse of Dai Dong Industry Joint-stock Company to store the goods since early last month.

The case was still under investigation. 

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