Northern, central regions under heat wave  

The northern and central regions of the country are again experiencing intense heat wave conditions since yesterday.

According to the National Hydro Meteorological Forecasting Center, hot and sultry weather will be wide spread across these regions with high temperatures prevailing from 35-36 degrees Celsius and even touching 37-38 degrees in some areas.

The present scorching heat wave has been caused by the sudden development of a westwardly hot low pressure zone which is heading towards Vietnam.

The weather is much hotter in the central region as it has also been affected by southwesterly winds.

This is the fourth heat wave occurring in the northern and central regions since the beginning of the summer this year.
 
Hand-foot-mouth epidemic in VN  

The Department of Preventive Medicines has recorded 20,000 cases of hand-foot-mouth disease, including 56 deaths, in 47 provinces across the country in recent months, with over 2,000 patients registering for treatment each week.  

Dr. Nguyen Van Binh, head of the Department of Preventive Medicines said the increase in hand-foot-mouth (HFM) disease cases and fatalities has shown that the disease is developing and spreading unpredictably and rampantly.

During the past three years, the country has recorded approximately 10,000 HFM cases with over 20 reported deaths per year.

Due to the wide spread nature of the disease, Dr. Truong Quoc Cuong, chief of the Vietnam Drug Administration has ordered all departments of health across the country and pharmaceutical companies to maintain adequate supplies of the required medications in hospitals and medical clinics and avoid shortage at all times.

The people’s Council of Ho Chi Minh City also met with the people’s committee of district 8 to discuss HFM prevention measures in the district as it has the most number of reported cases. During the first six months of the year, district 8 has reported 363 cases of HFM, 3 deaths and 487 cases of dengue fever.

District leaders blame the cause of the wide spread infection on the multitude of migrants living in the district, with 233,000 children being under the age of five. Most people live along the canal and river banks with little heed to personal hygiene.  Furthermore, the district adopted a lax attitude in the early stages of the development of the disease, by not implementing appropriate preventive measures.

The city People’s Council has ordered the district to step up propaganda and awareness of the disease in order to persuade residents to improve their personal hygiene habits.

The city People’s Council was also keeping track of the latest developments of the disease by coordinating with Children Hospital No. 2. Dr. Ha Manh Tuan, director of the hospital, said the present overload at the hospital was due to the increase in patients. Since the beginning of the year, the number of HFM patients had increased five times than in the same period last year.

Dr. Nguyen Ut, deputy head of the Department of Health in the central city of Da Nang, was concerned with the escalation in HFM cases. The maternity hospital alone admitted 50 patients including nine very serious cases on July 21.

Serious outbreaks of HFM have been reported in the central province of Quang Ngai where over 2,800 children have been affected with 5 reported deaths. Dr. Ho Minh Nen from Quang Ngai is concerned with the fact that some cases also occurred in the mountainous districts of the province, which is normally more immune.

New regulations for drug prescriptions  

With many patients suffering complications due to faulty prescriptions in the proper dosage of drugs, the Ministry of Health has now issued a circular to specify the responsibilities of a medical worker.
 
Under the circular, doctors will ask patients and record what medicines they used before and within last 24 hours, history of allergies and patient’s clinical symptoms. Medics will now have to write the full name of the drug and easy-to-read prescriptions in the patients’ record book. In case, doctors change the drugs prescribed, they must sign alongside to verify the same.

Moreover, instead of just writing the name of the medication and dosage, doctors must now write the drug name, content, dosage per day, time of taking drug and special notifications as applicable.

Dr. Le Duc Dinh Mien of the Nguyen Tri Phuong Hospital in District 5 of HCMC, said although the new regulations for prescriptions are lengthy, they are necessary because many doctors do not care to be transparent on prescriptions.  The new circular satisfies that need.

In addition, the new circular also requires medical workers to keep track of patient’s development in intensive care rooms. Doctors must prescribe drugs daily for patients who are in need of special care. For patients who respond well to drugs and do not require extra dosage, doctors can relax dosage to two days dosage per week with three days gap in between. Doctors should also inform patients and patients’ relatives on the side-effects of drugs, who can then observe the patient after drug use.

A senior member of the Vietnam Drug Administration said in case of a doctors’ incorrect prescription in which a patients suffers shock or succumbs to death, doctors will be held accountable.

The new regulation has been issued in light of many doctors writing illegible prescriptions that patients and pharmacists are unable to read. Ho Thi Ng. from the southern province of Binh Phuoc said she must redo health check-ups in the Medical Hospital in district 5 of HCMC because she wants to be on the safe side, as she cannot read the handwritten prescription of her doctor back home.

Dr. Nguyen Dai Bien of People Hospital 115 said it is high time to correct this flaw as it is most irritating for him to receive dozens of prescriptions daily from doctors in rural districts and small hospitals. Except for the big hospitals like Cho Ray and People Hospital 115 that use computer print outs, doctors in district hospitals and especially in rural countryside areas still write so illegibly that even their counterparts are unable to read, let alone patients and pharmacists.

With more than 3,000 private healthcare rooms and general medical clinics in HCMC, only 10 percent use computer printed prescriptions. As a consequence, wrong prescriptions have resulted in serious fatalities.

The circular aims to correct rampant use of illegible prescriptions and overloading at hospitals hindered by incorrect prescriptions. However, even though it will be hard to change old habits especially in rural areas, Pham Khanh Phong Lan, deputy head of the Department of Health in HCMC, said the ministry and other departments should train medics to write legible prescriptions and adopt the use of Vietnamese-made medicines only.

Oral-B mouthwash recalled from market  

Procter & Gamble company in Vietnam has recalled its Oral-B tooth and gum care alcohol free mouth wash and Oral-B tooth and gum care mouth wash in 350ml and 500ml bottles produced by Retycol (Colombia).  

According to the company, although its products are safe for normal healthy people, they contain microbes that may harm people with sensitive immune systems.

Earlier, the company had recalled these same products in Mexico, Chile, Colombia and Canada.

P&G has requested all retailers to stop selling the products and be prepared to refund customers.

Co.op Mart and Big C, two of the most popular supermarkets in the nation, say they have not sold these products for a long time.

However, it is still easy to buy these products at small outlets and grocery stores for VND45, 000-47,000 (approx. US$2) per 350ml. bottle.

For further information contact P&G Vietnam at 08-38225721 or 08-38227265 during business hours.
 
Sub-standard drugs removed from circulation
 
Vietnam Drug Administration yesterday suspended some medications from circulating in the market for failing to meet with the required quality standards.

Health authorities ordered Pharmaceutical Company Vemedimex, importer of tablet Cefiline -100 (Cefixime tables USP-100 mg) with expiry date July 19, 2012 and made by Eurolife Healthcare in India to immediately suspend sales.

The administration also ordered withdrawal of nutmorin H5000-anbicyn powder produced by Shanxi Powerdone Pharmaceutical in China and imported by Hiep Thuan Thanh Pharmaceutical Company.

Earlier, the Department of Health in the Mekong delta province of An Giang had removed many herbal medicines from circulation because the herbal drugs were being produced mixed with modern medicines like paracetamol, aspirin and dexamethason without any declaration by the manufacturers.

Citizens block trucks carrying iron ore to China

Citizens of Bao Thang District of the northern Lao Cai Province today took to streets and intercepted super heavy trucks carrying iron ore to export to China via the border gate Lao Cai to protest pollution and road damages caused by the vehicles.

They placed tree trunks, blocks of stone and other barriers on the national highway 4E to block the trucks which have been blamed of severely worsening their living environment and damaging traffic roads for many years.

Gia Phu People’s Committee chairman Vu Van Kha said he asked provincial fire fighting department to send two vehicles to spray water for dust prevention but locals refused to disband.

They demanded authorities to introduce measures for tackling pollution and road damages caused by the super heavy trucks.

The obstruction on the highway 4E has yet been settled down till 16:00 local time.

It is estimated that over 100 super heavy trucks carrying iron ore have shuttled between Vietnam and China via Lao Cai border gate.

Former regime leader Nguyen Cao Ky dies

Nguyen Cao Ky, who served as Chief of the Vietnam Air Force in the 1960s before leading the nation as premier of South Vietnam in mid-1960s, died of respiratory complication Saturday in Malaysia at the age of 80, his nephew Peter Phan told AP.

"He was in good health, but in the last couple of weeks he had been weak," Peter Phan was quoted by the news agency as saying.

Ky served as premier of US-backed South Vietnam from 1965 to 1967. He had been commander of South Vietnam's air force in 1965 when the US involvement in the Vietnam war escalated.

From 1967 to 1971, he was vice president under Gen. Nguyen Van Thieu.

When Thieu's government in Saigon collapsed in 1975, Ky and his family fled Vietnam to the US, where he led a quiet life away from politics.

His controversial visit back to his homeland in 2004 after 29 years in exile made him a media magnet.

"What I'm trying to do now is help my country. I only have a duty to my country," Ky told AP when he visited Hanoi. "I have my record. No one can say I'm not patriotic."

"While I served as prime minister, I gave no American cause to suppose that I was their puppet," Ky wrote in his 2002 book "Buddha's Child: My Fight to Save Vietnam."

Ky, who married three times, has six children and 14 grandchildren. He had five children by his first wife, a French woman and had a daughter, Nguyen Cao Ky Duyen, with the second wife, a Vietnamese woman. Duyen is a renowned MC in the Vietnamese community in the US.

Ky was born in Son Tay province, a town west of Hanoi back then, in 1930.

4 youngsters arrested for gang rape in My Tho

Southern Tien Giang Province’s My Tho City police have arrested four young men who abducted a young woman and gang raped her early Thursday morning.

The culprits are Nguyen Van Khanh, 15, Dinh Thanh Luan, 16, Vo Thach Thanh Quyen, 17, and Nguyen Duy Phuong, 21. All of them are residents of the city.

The victim of the sexual assault is H.T.B.T., 20, from Dong Nai Province, who reported to the police when she was released by the four youngsters several hours later.

The four rapists confessed to the police that after drinking a large amount of alcohol, they rode their motorbikes to the highway in Ward 10 to seek women to rape.

When they found T., who was being carried by her husband, Vo Minh Sang, on a motorbike, they stopped Sang, threatened him with a knife, and forced her onto their bike.

After taking T. to Phuong’s house, they took turns raping her for hours before taking her to the My Tho bus station and left her there.

Following T.’s report and some information from the public, the police later tracked down and seized the culprits.

Vietnam Airlines offers 35% off fare to students

Vietnam Airlines yesterday announced a 35-percent fare discount for Vietnamese students who want to fly to a number of European countries for study.

The promotion program will last until September 30, 2011.

Under the promotion scheme, passengers pay VND11,319,000 (US$550) per one-way ticket and can carry 40 kg of luggage free of charge when they buy tickets for flights before August 6 or from September 1 to September 30 from Hanoi/Ho Chi Minh City to Amsterdam (The Netherlands), Copenhagen (Denmark), Frankfurt (Germany), Helsinki (Finland), Kiev (Ukraine), London (the U.K.), Oslo (Norway), Prague (Czech), Stockholm (Sweden), Warsaw (Poland), Zurich (Switzerland) and some other destinations.

The fare is exclusive of VAT, fare fee and is subject to change depending on the US$/VND exchange rate at the time of ticket delivery.

To be eligible for the program, students are required to show their visa or other documents that indicate their purpose of studying overseas.

30% children under 5 suffer stunted growth

About 30 percent of the 7 million children under five years old in Vietnam suffer from stunted growth due to malnutrition, ranked 13th in the world, the Health Ministry reported.

The figures were released at a recent conference to review the 5-year implementation of Decree 21 by the Government on breastfeeding and using nutritious products for children.

Stunted growth, which reflects shortness for age, results from the malnutrition suffered by the fetus and by the baby in its first 2 months of life, the ministry said.

Exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months would help boost growth and reduce mortality among children below five by 13 percent, but only 10 percent of babies are exclusively breastfed in the first six months after birth, the ministry said, warning they are more at risk from diseases.

The ministry blamed the situation on excessive advertising in baby milk products and on the short maternity leave – just 4 months.

The more baby milk formula is advertized on the media, the more the rate of breastfeeding declines, the ministry warned.

Decree 21, issued in 2006, bans hospitals from introducing or selling to parents formula milk for under-12-month-old babies, but a study recently conducted by UNICEF at many obstetrics hospitals nationwide showed that mothers often used formula according to advice from health workers.

At a recent seminar titled “Boosting breastfeeding in Vietnam” in Hanoi, Nguyen Duc Vinh, deputy head of the Department of Health of Mothers and Children, said that only 61 percent of the babies born last year were breastfed within the first hour after birth.

Of the estimated 1.5 million children born in Vietnam every year, half are not breastfed immediately after birth, he said.

If all women suckle their babies, they will save some US$594 million a year on treatment for illnesses caused by to low-quality or contaminated formula milk, he added.

Robbers injure gold shop owner, no asset lost

A gusty robbery took place today afternoon at goldsmith shop Hoa Binh in Bien Hoa City of Dong Nai Province, with two robbers fleeing away after stabbing shop owner in his back.

The owner Nguyen Huu Quang was timely taken to local hospital with his back stabbed and some other minor injuries.

In hospital, Quang said, “One of the robbers came to his shop three days ago to ask for a silver-made chain and left soon after that, saying he didn’t have enough money.

“Today, he returned and asked me to weigh it for exact price.

“When I was turning away to put the chain on scale, he stabbed me from behind,” Quang recalled.

Quang said when he was pulling about with the robbers, his son arrived and shouted for help, and the robber ran out and got on a motorbike the other culprit was waiting to speed away.

Neighbors of the shop reported they heard the shouts at the shop and saw two robbers fleeing on a motorbike.

The shop is located at 93/76F in Tan Phong Ward.

Two whales washed ashore in Quang Nam, buried

Two whales have been drifted ashore onto Quang Nam Province’s coasts in Tam Tien commune, Nui Thanh district in the past two days and ceremoniously buried.

A local fisherman yesterday morning found one whale – 3m long, 0.5m wide and 300kg – lying on the beach in critical condition.

In line with Vietnamese customs respecting the creatures, the whale was taken back to sea for over one nautical mile and released in an attempt to save its life but due to its flailing health, it was washed back ashore again.

The mammal was then buried as per local traditions at the Tam Tien Graveyard.

Back on July 20, Phuoc Loc hamlet’s people found and buried another whale under similar circumstances.

Seminar to discuss climate change opens in HCMC

The MeKong River Commission (MRC) has launched a 2-day workshop in Ho Chi Minh City to seek solutions to adjust to climate change for the countries downstream the Mekong.

Nearly 120 scientists, leaders of environmental agencies along with representatives from foundations in Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam gathered to discuss 28 reports presented yesterday.

Of these reports, Mohammed Mainuddin’s research about agricultural productivity and food insurance during the times of climate change received particular attention.

According to Mr. Mainuddin, rice productivity is expected to increase in Laos and Thailand but decrease in Cambodia and Vietnam.

Solutions such as harvest change, irrigation and fertilizers to boost rice productivity will put pressure on the poor, he said.

Korea’s Busan sends medical and cultural volunteers to city

South Korea’s Busan Fund for International Activities (BFIA) has sent to HCMC two voluntary teams that will join several charitable events here from now to July 26.

Speaking to HCMC vice chairwoman Nguyen Thi Hong at the City Hall on Wednesday, BFIA secretary general David Kim said this mission would contribute to strengthening the friendship between the two cities that was established in 1995.   

The volunteers come as part of a cooperation program between the two sister cities.

“With five doctors and eight nurses from the Busan-based medical aid group Green Doctors, the 39-member medical team will give free examinations in districts 8, Binh Chanh, Can Gio and at some Korean companies,” Kim said.

“Meanwhile, the cultural team will visit some city-based orphanages. Preparing for these charitable activities, we have obtained permission to bring here a big volume of medicines and equipment.”

On this occasion, Green Doctors offers Nguyen Tri Phuong Hospital an US$100,000 eye-surgery machine and will bring two local doctors to South Korea for a one-month refresher course.
 
One more ferry from HCMC to Dong Nai

The Cat Lai Ferry Enterprise has launched a 200-ton ferry, funded by the city, which will double the capacity of current ferries at Cat Lai Station on the HCMC-Dong Nai route.

Tran Minh Thanh, director of the enterprise, said vehicle circulation in the first six months of this year increased 30% compared with the same period last year.

The daily circulation was 45,000 vehicles (including 3,500 cars) leading to traffic congestion in rush hour at the station.

The new ferry will restrict traffic jams and shorten the waiting time.

Thanh said vehicles traveling from the Mekong Delta to Vung Tau will shorten their journey 40 kilometers if they use the ferry. The ferry has space for 40 four-seat cars, 16 light trucks and 500 passengers.
 
Big C’s VND320 mil. for 8 community projects

Big C supermarket chains in Vietnam has just implemented eight community projects worth VND320 million as part of the ‘Big Community’ competition.

The group organized the contest to encourage Big C staff to develop community projects that improve the living conditions of poor people.

The eight successful projects, from a total of 47, include: building clean wells for poor people in Danang, offering vocational guidance to blind people in Go Vap District, helping the disabled in Vinh Phuc, teaching life skills at the Education and Vocational Guidance Center for blind children in Thua Thien - Hue, offering sales training skills to orphans of Birla Children’s Village in Hanoi and building a water treatment system in Danang. Each project is worth VND40 million and will be completed within two months.