Killer disease still baffles scientists

Authorities remain baffled by the mysterious skin disease that has killed nearly 20 people and infected many others in Quang Ngai Province though the Ministry of Health has sent two delegations to investigate.

Pham Hong Phuong, director of the Quang Ngai Province Department of Health, said the ministry has concluded it is palm dermatitis with liver problems. But he refused to provide further information about the ministry's conclusion or speculate about it.

But Dr Tran Hau Khang, director of the Ha Noi-based Central Dermatology Hospital, who led both delegations, rejected the conclusion.

He told the People's Army newspaper that it was based merely on symptoms and the cause remains unknown.

Blood tests found the presence of the rickettsia bacterium in 14 out of 26 patients in Ba To District. It is known to cause typhus among other diseases.

Viet Nam News called the office of the US's Center for Diseases Control in Ha Noi only to be told to seek information from the ministry. But Viet Nam News was unable to reach Minister of Health Nguyen Thi Kim Tien despite repeated efforts.

Experts speculate that it is not an infectious disease but is caused by arsenic.

The province has reported more than 176 cases since last year.

The province is assisting patients' families with VND5 million each. Ba To District has decided to distribute 60 tonnes of rice to locals in areas hit by a fatal skin disease that has been linked to the consumption of mouldy grain.

Le Han Phong, chairman of the local People's Committee said on Thursday that the rice would be divided amongst the people to replace the mouldy rice in their storerooms.

The Central Relief Fund donated VND1 billion (US$47,600) to the effort and the provincial Viet Nam Fatherland Front gave VND1 million ($48) to each household with an affected member.

VN workers maltreated in Russia

Forty Vietnamese labourers working in Russia's Ekaterinburg City have claimed that they were badly treated, and their cases are being investigated by the Department of Overseas Labour (DoLab) under the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' General Consulate.

The two departments asked the Vietnamese Embassy to Russia to look into the case and provide support for the workers according to the guidelines and responsibilities for citizen protection, DoLab director Nguyen Ngoc Quynh told a Vietnam News Agency reporter.

The labourers left their homes in the northern provinces of Ha Nam, Hung Yen and Bac Giang, and were taken to Russia in January to work at a leather garments factory in Ekaterinburg.

They complained to their families on the phone that they were being exploited, forced to work up to 13 hours per day in poor conditions without being paid.

Quynh said that the labourers were not taken to Russian through any of the Vietnamese labour export companies.

In a similar case, which involved another 36 Vietnamese labourers who said that they were not paid enough and were working without medical insurance, the department asked the relevant Vietnamese labour export company to work directly with their Russia partners to solve the problem, said Quynh.

Those workers are now waiting for repatriation in Moscow because their labour contracts were cut short by their employers.

They were sent to Russia in December 2008 and January 2009 to work as construction workers under a contract signed by the Viet Nam Steel Corporation and APC Liability Limited Company in Russia.

Air Mekong to open Hanoi-Con Dao direct route

Mekong Aviation JSC (Air Mekong) will launch a new direct route between Hanoi and Con Dao starting on May 19 to meet the growing demand of tourists from northern localities to the southern historical island during the summer.

The two-hour flights will departure from Hanoi at 1pm every Wednesday and Saturday. Air Mekong said it will increase the number of flights to four per week if the demand for travel to Con Dao is increasing during the summer.

The airline is expected to increase the number of flights from Hanoi to Phu Quoc island, to nine a week.

Promotion tickets for the Hanoi-Phu Quoc and Hanoi-Con Dao routes are applied from May 1-20.

Singaporean pianist performs in Vietnam

Singapore’s renowned pianist Lim Yan has performed with Vietnam National Symphony Orchestra in the 'Emperor's Night concerts at the Cong Nhan (Workers) cinema in Hanoi.

The concerts, directed by Singaporean conductor Adrian Tan, feature Beethoven's famous 'Emperor' piano concerto and his 'Egmont Overture' as well as some pieces by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

Lim Yan was professionally trained in the UK and has toured across Europe performing music by Beethoven, Grieg, Prokofiev, and Rachmaninov.

Ba To District offers support to victims of bizarre skin disease

Authorities in Ba To District in the central province of Quang Ngai have provided free rice to people afflicted by the mysterious skin disease, said a senior official.

Le Han Phong, Chairman of the People’s Committee of Ba To District, said the district has provided 60 tonnes of rice to people suffering from the disease in some communes.

In addition, the district gave VND4.5 million (US$217) to each family of the dead and VND2.5 million to each family with a sick patient.

Vietnamese health officers are now suspecting rice mould as a possible cause of the mysterious and fatal skin condition in the central region, after patients in Ba To District said they had eaten rice covered with fungus.

Experts from the ministry said last week that ‘Ricketsia, a virus transmitted by fleas, to be a cause, but blood samples of patients proved this was not the cause.

The skin disease begins with a high fever, loss of appetite and inflamed sort of rash on the hands and feet, and then progresses to affecting and damaging the liver and subsequently other body organs.

Quang Ngai Province had so far reported 180 cases of the skin disease, eight of whom died at medical clinics and 11 at home.

Quang Binh Province finds ways to protect National Park

As reported by SGGP newspaper, the public is angry at the news that three rare and endangered Sua trees (Dalbergia cochinchinensis-Alstonia family) were cut down by lumberjacks at the Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park in Quang Binh Province recently.

Who had connived with the lumberjacks to transport the century old Sua trees from the forest to the road?

Nguyen Van Huyen, deputy director of the Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park, told reporters that he and other forest wardens were shocked when they saw the empty ground left by the cut Sua trees. Lumberjacks had taken away the trunks of the three Sua trees, and left behind branches and foliage.

Nguyen Van Hien, party secretary of the Phuc Trach Commune in Quang Binh Province said that the ringleader of the lumberjacks was suspected to be Hanh, who had wandered in the forest and discovered the Sua trees. He then took pictures of the trees and showed them to timber smugglers. After bargaining a price with them of hundreds of billion Vietnam dongs, Hanh hired another lumberjack named Sau to carry out the business.

The trees were cut down and the lumberjacks received their payment. As they did not have enough time to count the money, having received 500,000 bank notes, they piled up the amount in bundles and weighed the bundles of money!!

Thus, local leaders believe that the Sua trees were sold off for almost VND1,000 billion! If the trees had been transferred to Dong Hoi town in Quang Binh Province, the price could have been as high as VND2,000 billion.

Working for such high profits, the lumberjacks and timber smugglers were protected by an army of 20 gunmen, equipped with rifles, mines and grenades from Ha Tinh Province and Dong Hoi town.

People believe that the three Sua trees had been cut into blocks and hidden in the jungle, waiting for a convenient time to be transported to the national route.

As authorities intensified patrolling of roads near the park to block all exits of the lumberjacks from taking out timber from the forest, it is said that the criminals spent VND30 billion for bribing the traffic police, forest wardens, so that those responsible would turn a deaf ear and blind eye to the trucks carrying out the Sua wood from the forest.

A report issued by the People’s Committee of Quang Binh Province on May 1 aimed at discussing ways to prevent destruction of trees in Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park as it was noticed that at present, there were so many people in the forest illegally exploiting forest products, that it is impossible to find the criminals. The reality is that the local people are cooperating with lumberjacks or becoming lumberjacks themselves.

Since April 17, there have been contingents of locals who have illegally intruded into the Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park to cut and steal the precious and rare Sua trees.

The chairman of the People’s Committee of Quang Binh said that when too many people enter the forest; authorities must mobilize extra personnel on the grounds in order to rapidly deploy forces to overpower the lumberjacks.

The People’s Committee had set up professional teams who would be responsible for control and prevention of illicit activities of lumberjacks but due to lack of personnel and weapons the effectiveness of those teams was limited.

However, the forests now seem under the control of criminals. Reporters disguised as villagers walked deep into the forest in Vuc Tro Commune and saw many people come in and out of the forest. The reporters were even stopped and searched by the gangsters and only released when the gangsters thought they were “real” villagers from other provinces who had also come to ransack the forests for money!!

It was reported that on the night of April 29, 100 lumberjacks overpowered the forest rangers who wanted to prevent them from taking out timber from the forest. In another clash with the criminals, the police found that they ran away and left behind 18 AK machine gun bullets. That proves that the lumberjacks were fully armed.

Authorities are considering options to mobilise the military to arrive in time to assist the rangers. They hope that the concerted co-operation of the military, local authorities and local residents would bolster efforts to curb dubious activities of illegal lumberjacks.

Meanwhile another ten-year-old Sua tree in Nguyen Tat Thanh Street in Huong Thuy town in the central province of Thua Thien Hue was cut down on May 3.  In 2011 also, two Sua trees in Nguyen Tat Thanh Street had been cut down by lumberjacks.

Quang Nam Province asks EVN to repair dam leaks

The People’s Committee of the central province of Quang Nam has sent a dispatch to Vietnam Electricity (EVN) to implement swift measures to repair the leaks in the main dam of the Song Tranh 2 Hydropower Plant Reservoir by August 30.

A view of Song Tranh 2 Hydropower Plant dam in Quang Nam Province (Photo: Chinhphu.vn)

In case the leaks are not repaired before the deadline date, then EVN should halt the flow of water into the plant’s dam to ensure the safety of low-lying areas.

The committee also proposed to EVN, which is the plant’s main investor, to work with the provincial Steering Committee for Flood and Storm Prevention on measures to ensure safety for the plant’s dam during the storm season this year.

This is the second time the province authorities have asked EVN to repair the leaks.

In early April, Le Phuoc Thanh, chairman of the provincial People’s Committee inspected the dam and said that if EVN does not remedy the leaks before the storm season this year, the province will propose to the Government to stop the dam from filling up.

HCM City leaders offer greetings on birth anniversary of Buddha

On Lord Buddha’s 2556th birth anniversary, a delegation of leader from the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee, the People’s Committee and Fatherland Front, led by Nguyen Van Dua, deputy secretary of the HCMC Party Committee on May 3 offered their good wishes to the HCMC Buddhist Sangha.

Most Venerable Thich Tri Quang, vice chairman of the Buddhist Sangha and head of the managing committee of the HCMC Buddhist Sangha, thanked the city leaders for their love and attention as well as their support to the activities of dignitaries, monks and the Buddhist clergy, over the past years and on each Buddha anniversary.

Deputy Secretary Dua applauded the practical contributions made by Buddhists in the cause of national liberation and reconstruction and national solidarity.

In related news, Huynh Dam, president of the Vietnam Fatherland Front Committee visited Most Venerable Thich Pho Tue, Patriarch of the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha Patronage Council on May 3 at the Vien Minh pagoda in Phu Xuyen District in Hanoi.

President Dam wished the Patriarch good health and greeted Buddhist dignitaries, monks, nuns and followers on the occasion and highlighted their active involvement in patriotic campaigns.

Dam believes that the Buddhist Sangha and followers nationwide and abroad will contribute towards strong national unity and a just, democratic and civilised society.

He took the occasion to wish the upcoming 7th National Congress of Vietnam Buddhist Sangha every success.

On his part, Most Venerable Thich Pho Tue said that the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha will further urge its followers to actively participate in humanitarian activities and contribute to national defence and reconstruction and help improve people’s living standards.
A solemn ceremony marked the birth anniversary of Lord Buddha at the Vinh Nghiem Pagoda (Photo: Bao Long)

A ceremony to mark the 2,556th birth anniversary of Lord Buddha was held at the Ly Trieu Quoc Su Pagoda in Hanoi recently.

On behalf of Vietnam Buddhist Sangha, Most venerable Thich Thanh Nhieu, vice chairman of its Executive Board, read a message from the Patriarch of VBS, expressing his best wishes to Buddhist dignitaries, monks, nuns and followers on the occasion.

Most venerable Nhieu said that the Vietnamese Party, State, Fatherland Front and the community highly values the VBS for its contributions to national reconstruction and development in recent years.

This year, Lord Buddha’s birth anniversary falls on an even year on the Buddhist calendar and takes place in an exciting atmosphere along with the success of the 10th National Party Congress and   UNESCO recognizing Buddha’s birth anniversary as a World Religious Festival Day.

Climate change impacts on energy, transport assessed

International and domestic experts have jointly assessed the impact of climate change on energy and transport as part of the first phase of a US$2.5-million project funded by the Asian Development Bank.

The two-phase initiative, kicked off in early March, aims to provide technical assistance towards the National Target Programme on Climate Change.

"We chose to focus on energy and transport as two key factors contributing to the socio-economic development of the nation," said Hoang Van Tam, head of the Ministry of Industry and Trade's Environment Management Department.

The initial phase of the project is scheduled to complete by the end of this year, said project deputy team leader Ha Dang Son, from the MoIT.

Five pilot programmes, aimed at reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, will be introduced at the beginning of next year during the second phase of the project, expected to finish by the end of 2013, he said.

GHG emissions will be culled in sectors such as industry and maritime transport in Da Nang City.

A street light energy efficiency programme and green buildings programme will in turn be piloted in HCM City and northern Thanh Hoa Province.

According to the MoIT, HCM City represents the most dynamic economic development area while Da Nang is a new model city with advantages in geographical location, infrastructure and socio-economic conditions and Thanh Hoa Province is in need of sustainable development proposals.

Bernoit Laplante, project team leader, said five main targets need to be met in lowering GHG emissions including developing a national emission factor for local coal, separating energy sector consumption, improving the "Long range Energy Alternatives Planning System" (LEAP) model, building low carbon and greenhouse emission scenarios and assessing GHG mitigation.

LEAP is a widely used software tool used in energy policy analysis and climate change mitigation assessment, developed at the Stockholm Environment Institute.

The team will also assess the impact of climate change on transport and energy infrastructure, he said.

At national level, assessments will be conducted on national highways, ports, airports and power generation facilities, transmission lines and power stations, he added.

Via such assessments, top policy-makers are expected to set up climate change response scenarios.

Ha Noi student wins logo competition

Tran Huyen Trang, a student at the Ha Noi University of Industrial Arts, has won a competition to design a creative logo for Population Services International, a "Good health, Great life" social franchise.

Launched in February, the contest aims to encourage talented artists to design a logo to be used to motivate increased preventive health behaviours, including tuberculosis control and hypertension management, among low-income and vulnerable communities in Viet Nam.

Operating in Viet Nam since 2005, PSI has worked in social marketing and franchise activities to prevent HIV infection, tuberculosis, diarrhoea and hypertension in 15 provinces.

Automatic bus ticket system planned

The Ha Noi People's Committee has asked Hanel Limited Company to work out a plan for an automatic bus ticket system (Q-Ticket) in co-ordination with Ha Noi Transport Company.

Q-Ticket, estimated to cost nearly VND271 billion (US$12.9 million), is expected to replace the current paper system.-

Ha Noi funds fight against bird flu

The People's Committee of Ha Noi has devoted VND4.6 billion (US$219,000) to combating bird flu in the city this year.

Bird flu was reported to have returned to the capital last March, affecting some 3,000 ducks in the outlying district of Phu Xuyen.

The disease has claimed two lives in the country this year.-

An Binh islanders to access fresh water

A groundbreaking ceremony for An Binh islet's new desalination station was held yesterday in the central province of Quang Ngai.

As scheduled, over 500 inslet residents will have access to fresh water when the project finishes in August.

The South Korean heavy industry group Doosan Vina is funding construction of the station, which will desalinate and filter sea water to produce 200 cubic metres of fresh water each day.-

Elderly people live hard life: survey shows

Up to 63 per cent of Viet Nam's elderly people are living in disadvantaged situations, the Institute of Social and Medical Studies revealed at the launch of the national survey on elderly people this morning.

The result is part of the first-ever national survey in Viet Nam. The survey collected information on the socio-economic characteristics, health status and living conditions of 4,000 Vietnamese elderly aged 50 in 12 different cities and provinces nation-wide from April 2011 to April 2012.

Speaking at the launch, Dam Huu Dac, standing vice chairman of the Viet Nam Elderly Association, said that Viet Nam was experiencing a demographic transition towards an aging towards 2035.

"The survey will be a data base for further supportive policies for the elderly in Viet Nam," he said.

Results from the survey showed that apart from weak health conditions and restricted ability in accessing health care services, seven percent of elderly people were living in temporary houses and faced financial difficulties.

Doctor Giang Thanh Long of the Institute of Public Policy and Management and head of the research team, said that 30 per cent of elderly incomes came from employment.

However, most had unstable incomes as they suffered from ill health. Restriction in knowledge, proven by one third of elderly people over 80 unable to write or read, also made their lives worse, he said.

The survey was jointly implemented by Indochina Research and Consulting, the Institute of Social and Medical Studies and the Viet Nam Women Union.

Ministry requests close monitoring of forest fire risk

Agriculture and Rural Development Minister Cao Duc Phat yesterday sent an urgent message to provinces and cities, asking them to take action to prevent forest fires and minimise possible damage.

The emergency request comes after an extended hot and dry spell, which has already caused forest fires in Da Nang this week.

The ministry's Forest Protection Department has identified forests in Bao Thang, Van Ban, Bao Yen (city of Lao Cai), Que Phong, Quy Chau, Anh Son, Con Cuong (Nghe An Province) as being highly vulnerable to fires.

All provinces and cities have been asked to monitor warning signs that could lead to forest fires and to report them on the department system at kiemlam.org.vn.

Meanwhile, nearly 60ha of eucalyptus trees were lost to fire in Phuc Yen Town of Vinh Phuc Province on Wednesday, even after local authorities ordered hundreds of people and fire fighters to stop the blaze.

In Dak Lac Province, more than 300,000ha of forest are at risk of fire and fire control staff have been put on high alert.

Vietnamese encouraged to use domestic medicine

The Ministry of health has decided to set up a steering committee for a campaign that would encourage the use of domestically-produced medicines.

Headed by Minister of Health Nguyen Thi Kim Tien, the committee would also include representatives from the Viet Nam Fatherland Front, the Propaganda and Training Commission and the Press Department.

The steering committee would create a plan for the campaign "Vietnamese People Use Viet Nam's Medicines", which aims to raise residents' awareness of domestic pharmaceutical companies and their products.

The committee would ask medical stations and doctors to prescribe domestic medicines and reduce the use of international medicines.

The committee would call for pharmaceutical enterprises to improve the quality of their products, to establish trademarks, and to hold fairs, exhibitions and trade promotion programmes to popularise their products.

In addition, the committee would provide support for the manufacture and delivery of domestic medicines through policies and regulations.