International peace conference held in Quang Tri

 A conference on solidarity for peace and sustainable development took place in the central province of Quang Tri on May 21 and 22, gathering representatives from 12 foreign countries.

Organised by the provincial authorities, together with the Viet Nam Peace and Development Foundation and German-based Rosa Luxemburg Foundation, the conference also saw the attendance of representatives from the World Peace Council and Afro-Asian People's Solidarity Organisation.

In his opening speech at the event, Chairman of the Quang Tri People’s Committee Nguyen Duc Chinh said his province bore the brunt of the country’s past struggles against French and American armies. 

Quang Tri’s growth as seen today is the result of local residents’ solidarity and hard work and assistance from domestic and international friends, he stressed.

Participants voiced their support for the idea of annually celebrating Vietnamese Peace Day on January 27 in Quang Tri as the province itself is a demonstration of war destruction and strong post-war recovery. January 27 also marked the signing of the Paris Peace Accords in 1973 to end war and establish peace in Vietnam.

They discussed threats to global peace and measures to handle these issues, with some expressing their concern over emerging religious radicalism and terrorism. 

They said international solidarity should be centred around anti-terrorism, anti-gender inequality, and anti-racial discrimination. 

They advised countries to hold bilateral and multilateral activities in promotion of international solidarity, cut military budget and spend more on education and social welfare.

Awards presented for 2018 postage stamp contest for children 

The 2018 postage stamp contest for children and teenagers aged 8-15 has come to an end with 54 prizes presented, including one special prize, two first and four third prizes.

Another 15 prizes were awarded to groups of contestants and organisations who made outstanding contributions to the competition during an award ceremony in the northern city of Hai Phong on May 21. Five “A” prizes for groups and organisations went to the Ho Chi Minh Young Pioneers Organisations from Hai Phong, Bac Giang, Quang Nam and Tien Giang.

This year’s competition aimed to encourage protecting rare and endangered animals through postage stamps. Some 2.1 million entries were sent to the contest by kids nationwide from December 2017 to April 2018.

The Vietnam Post has issued many collections of postage stamps on animals to raise people’s awareness.

It was the fifth competition of this kind held by Vietnam Post, Viet Stamp and the Central Council of the Ho Chi Minh Young Pioneer Organisation. It aims to give the children and teenagers a better understanding of the history and cultural values of each stamp and promote the stamp collecting.

Vietnam central localities promote tourism in Laos

A programme to introduce tourism destinations in Vietnam’s central provinces of Nghe An, Ha Tinh and Quang Binh was held in Vientiane, Laos on May 21.

In her opening remarks, Deputy Director of the Nghe An province’s Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism Nguyen Thi Thanh An said the event is part of efforts to promote tourism the potential and strengths of Vietnamese localities, thus further pushing tourism cooperation with Laos. 

It also aims to attract more visitors from Laos and third countries to the Vietnamese central localities, she noted. 

The programme provides a chance for travel agencies and tourism associations of the two countries to set up partnerships and share information, An added. 

Speaking at the event, Chairman of the Lao Association of Travel Agents Somphong Deviengxay said tourism is a key economic sector promoting development in his country. 

The number of Vietnamese tourists to Laos and vice versa is rising, so tourism cooperation between the two countries will not only generate revenue for the national budget of each country, but also help tighten solidarity between the two countries’ people.

Representatives from the Vietnamese localities gave the Lao side details of landscapes, people, potential and advantages for tourism development, and tourism products and services of the localities, and information regarding their tourism development policies. 

On the occasion, travel agencies of Laos and those from Nghe An, Ha Tinh and Quang Binh signed cooperation programmes.

IDT director receives life sentence for fraud

Phạm Thanh Hải, 52, former director of the International Trading, Investment and Technology Development (IDT) joint stock company, received a life sentence Monday afternoon for defrauding hundreds of investors.

Hải, who is also the owner of the website hoclamgiau.vn, was charged by the People’s Court of Hà Nội for cheating and appropriating property based on article 174 of the 2015 Penal Code.

Under the indictment, Hải had defrauded 508 people to raise VNĐ2.7 trillion (US$118.6 million) in investments, of which he appropriated VNĐ476 billion ($20.9 million) for his personal benefit.

The indictment said Hải set up the company in 2007. In 2008, he started raising investment capital for private purposes. However, all activities that were introduced and advertised to attract investors were carried out under the company’s name.

Hải then organised seminars and established a social networking site, hoclamgiau.vn, the Voice of Việt Nam’s online newspaper reported.

At the seminars, Hải presented himself as a Ph.D holder with extensive business experience in the former Soviet Union. Hải also bragged that his company was implementing projects that offered high-interest rates.

To entice people to invest their money in his company, Hải offered contracts with interest rates of up to 40 to 50 per cent per year, which was much higher than bank rates. He even paid out interest right after investments were made, although his company had yet to engage in any business activity at the time.

He also encouraged people to help him raise more capital by paying commissions, worth about 2 to 10 per cent of the contract’s total value, for a broker with each new contract.

Hải exploited his position as the company’s director and used the company seal in contracts to gain the trust of investors.

Hải used these tricks to defraud investors out of VNĐ2.7 trillion between October 2014 and October 2015.

The court said Hải’s offense was particularly serious because he used tricks to cheat investors and appropriate a large sum of money, causing misery to hundreds of people.

In addition to the life sentence handed down by the court, Hải was ordered to pay compensation to all his victims.

Victims’ families call for acquittal of doctor

The relatives of nine victims who died in a medical incident at the Hòa Bình General Hospital last year asked a court on Monday to acquit one of the defendants in the case.

Hoàng Công Lương, a doctor at the Department of Intensive Care of the Hòa Bình General Hospital and a resident of Hòa Bình City, was a devoted doctor who treated his patients for years and tried his best to save the patients when the accident occurred, the victims’ families told the court.

According to them, Lương was just a doctor and was not in charge of the quality of machines and equipment.

Aside from Lương, the other defendants include Bùi Mạnh Quốc, director of the Trâm Anh Water Treatment Co. Ltd., and Trần Văn Sơn, an official of the medical material and equipment division of the Hòa Bình General Hospital.

On May 29, 2017, 18 patients suffered from symptoms of anaphylactic shock, such as difficulty in breathing, sudden fall in blood pressure, stomachache, and vomiting while receiving kidney dialysis at the kidney dialysis division of the hospital’s Department of Intensive Care. Nine of the patients died in this incident.

According to the indictment of the provincial People’s Procuracy, Quốc, 32, had repaired and maintained the RO filter system of the dialysis machines. During the process, however, the machines’ water supply tubes were not purified carefully, chemical residue was found to the cause.

After the pasteurisation of the RO filter system, Quốc failed to check the quality of water samples before handing the system over to the hospital. He was charged with involuntary manslaughter Sơn, 28, who was in charge of checking and supervising the replacement and maintenance of the filter system, failed to complete his assigned tasks. Nephrologist Lương, 32, allowed the dialysis treatment to commence without checking the water quality of the machines. Sơn and Lương were charged with “negligence resulting in serious consequences.”

The victims’ families also asked the court to consider mitigating factors on the cases of Sơn and Quốc.

The families of Sơn and Quốc paid VNĐ50 million (US$2,200) and VNĐ30 million (US$1,200), respectively, as compensation to the victims’ relatives during the investigation.

Meanwhile, the Hòa Bình Hospital and Thiên Sơn Company, which provided materials for the repair of the Reverse Osmosis (RO) water filter system, paid VNĐ740 million (US$32,500) to compensate the victims’ families.

Curb sale of non-prescription drugs: deputy PM

People purchase medicine at a pharmacy in Hà Nội. The implementation of the national drug supply chain management system is expected to help the health sector manage medicine and prevent the purchase of medicines without a prescription. 

The implementation of the national drug supply chain management system will help the health sector manage the supply of medicine and prevent the purchase of medicine without prescription.

Deputy Prime Minister Vũ Đức Đam said this at a meeting with the health sector on the implementation of the national drug supply chain system held in Hà Nội on Monday.

“Thanks to the application of the system, the health sector will know all information relating to the drugs on the market, including the quality, the source and price, while local residents can check the origin of the medicine as well as its expiration date,” he said.

The implementation of the system is part of an important mission currently being undertaken as part of the sixth plenum of the Party Central Committee’s resolution on the improvement of people’s health.

Accordingly, the management of the sale of drugs in retail outlets, hospitals drugstores and pharmacies nationwide should be tightened.

It is expected that the national drug supply chain management system will link with drugstores at hospitals and health stations by the end of this year. This will be followed by linking with all pharmacies in the country by the end of 2019.

According to the Ministry of Health (MoH), the system has updated a list of around 52,000 out of 60,000 medicines, helping to identify the origin of the medicines. New information is being updated to the system every day.

Through the system, prescriptions at hospitals can be connected with manufacturers as well as import and export companies, so that they know which drugs to supply, and where there is an existing surplus.

The MoH has piloted the programme in a number of pharmacies in Vĩnh Phúc, Phú Thọ and Hưng Yên provinces.

Vũ Tuấn Cường, head of Drug Administration, said there were problems in the application of the system, including hesitation from private pharmacies, obstacles in pharmacies due to faulty or outdated computer systems, network access and a lack of determination in some localities.

“Surveys conducted by the MoH showed that the implementation of drug supply chain management requires great effort and determination,” he said, adding that changing the operation of the current system from manual to electronic is a must in many localities, to ensure transparency in business, and stop people from overusing drugs unnecessarily.

Despite the fact that prescription drugs supplied at all public and private hospitals are listed online, it is impossible to control activities at thousands of private health clinics, Cường said.

To help remedy the situation, the Deputy Prime Minister emphasised the need to utilise lessons learned from localities where the system was piloted, and fully finish and check the software before implementing it nationwide.

The system must meet all requirements of the pharmacies’ activities including setting forth a forecast on drug consumption in the coming time, he said.

He asked the health sector and various localities to take drastic measures and deal strictly with pharmacies that violate the requirements of the new system.

The health sector is required to review regulations to tighten the sale of drugs, ensuring the rights of patients and putting an end to the sale of non-prescription drugs, which has resulted in high antibiotic resistance in Việt Nam, he said.

Can Tho sets to develop smart city

Domestic and foreign experts gathered at a conference held in the Mekong Delta city of Can Tho on May 21 to share smart solutions to the management of urban area for sustainable and prosperous development to meet the increasing demand of local residents, organisations and enterprises.

Duong The Dung, Vice Director of the municipal Department of Information and Communications, said the project to develop Can Tho into a smart city during 2016-2025 aims to enhance working and living conditions of local residents while encouraging the involvement of local residents in the effective management of urban area.

The project should cover meticulous planning and investment of technical infrastructure which have close connections with the development of urban area, he underlined, noting that standards on service quality and policies for public-private partnership and calling investment should be set up as well.

Collaboration with international organisations to share experience in developing smart city will be paid due attention, he added.

According to Deputy Minister of Public Security Nguyen Van Thanh, a founding member of the ISO 37120- indicators for city services and quality of life, a smart city must apply IT and communications to build a valuable city which is full of vitality and capable of recovering and competing. 

A city will become smart when there is significant improvement in business climate, living quality, and standards on security, social welfare and safety, he said, adding that the smart education system must be given priority to have high-quality labour force.

At the conference, experts introduced the construction of a smart city meeting standards on security, social welfare and safety amid the influence of the Industry 4.0.

The World Bank presented measures to support smart city development in Can Tho via building spatial data infrastructure (SDI) and open cities (OSM).

The participants also shared experience in urban management in Phu Quoc and Singapore across the sectors of urban security, urban planning, transportation, digital government tourism and agriculture.

At the event, Can Tho city and the Vietnam Posts and Telecommunications Group (VNPT) inked a cooperative agreement on developing Can Tho into a smart city for 2016-2025.

Hà Nội and HCMC I gets the first win of National Women’s Football Championship

Hà Nội 1 defeated Phong Phú Hà Nam away at Hà Nam Stadium in the first match of National Women’s Football Championship – Thái Sơn Bắc Cup 2018. 

Striker Phạm Hải Yến’s header in the 77th minute sealed a 1-0 win for the capital side. 

After watching Hồ Chí Minh City 1 (HCMC 1) lift the trophy for three consecutive years, 10 times champions Hà Nội 1 showed determination from the first whistle by pressuring Phong Phú Hà Nam’s defence.

Their first chance came in the fourth minute for captain Nguyễn Thị Muội after the ball was blocked by a Ha Nam defender, but her shot was too weak to trouble the goalkeeper.

After being overwhelmed in the beginning, Phong Phú Hà Nam began to assert themselves. 

Their midfielders linked up well but with the absence of main striker Nguyễn Thị Nguyệt due to injury, Hà Nam failed to convert the final passes into chances. 

Their best chance was Nguyễn Thị Tuyết Dung’s direct shot from a corner in the 44th minute, but Hà Nội’s goalkeeper Hoàng Thị Loan pushed the ball out of danger.

The first half ended goalless.

Clearer chances came in the second half, as in the 50th minute, after Hà Nội’s Nguyễn Thị Muội free kick, the ball eluded Hà Nam’s defence and came right to Muội’s teammate, but her shot hit the post.

Only two minutes after, Phong Phú Hà Nam hit Hà Nội’s post after Nguyễn Thị Liễu’s shot.

Both team put on an entertaining second half but there only one team took their chances.

In the 77th minute, after a corner, Hà Nội’s Phạm Hải Yến jumped higher than every other players and scored the winning goal.

For the rest of the match, valiant efforts, Phong Phú Hà Nam couldn’t score the equaliser.

The match ended with a first win for coach Đặng Quốc Tuấn’s players.

The second match of the tournament yesterday was a derby between HCMC I and HCMC II.

Playing on the front foot, HCMC I easily defeated their opponents 4-0, opening the scoring in the seventh minute.

Controlling the ball most of the match, the team scored another three goals in the first half.

Hà Nội 1 will face Hồ Chí Minh City 2 in the second match while Phong Phú Hà Nam’s opponent will be defending champion  Hồ Chí Minh City 1 on May 24.

Hà Tĩnh wins 2 medals at National Junior Athletics Champs

Hà Tĩnh won 1 gold and 1 bronze at the National Junior Athletics Championship 2018, held in Vinh City in the central province of Nghệ An on Sunday.

The gold medal went to Lê Tiến Long and the bronze medal went to Phạm Văn Tài in the men’s 5,000m run, for athletes born between 2001-02.

The National Junior Athletics Championship 2018 was held from May 20 to 23 at Vinh City Stadium, attracting 600 athletes from 55 provinces of Việt Nam. Hà Tĩnh sent 16 athletes to the competition.

Young athletes competed for 76 medals in 4 age categories: 2005-06, 2003-04, 2001-02 and relay with divided subjects: running, walking, high jump, long jump, javelin, discus throw, and shot put.

Through the competition, young athletes will be sent to national youth teams to receive proper training by the Việt Nam Athletics Federation (VAF).