Ha Noi strengthens pricing inspections

The Ha Noi Department of Finance is tightening inspections on prices for parking sites, fuel, formula milk and enterprises joining the city's price stabilisation programme.

The campaign will last until the end of the year.

In first half of the year, the department fined dozens of related businesses VND534 million (US$25,400) for pricing violations.

Young man loses testicles in odd traffic accident

In an odd traffic accident between a bus and a motorbike in Ho Chi Minh City’s Binh Tan District last weekend, a young man had his testicles cut off from the scrotum after he was hit and dragged by the bus.

The victim was T.P.Y, 25, a resident of the district, who is being treated at the Cho Ray Hospital in HCMC.

“Y was hospitalized in critical condition on July 8 after his two testicles were cut off from the scrotum that had been torn, his penis was heavily damaged, and his urinary tract was also cut off, along with some other wounds in other parts of his body,” said Dr. Duong Quang Vu, at the hospital’s Urology Department.

Passers-by who witnessed the accident put the young man’s cut-off testicles into a plastic bag and sent it to the hospital along with Y, but doctors said they could not re-connect them to the scrotum.

In most cases in which testicles are cut off in industrial or traffic accidents the organs cannot be re-connected since their tissue can survive for 5 minutes after being cut off from the scrotum, doctors explained.

“We have cleaned the wound, stitched the urinary tract, and treated the torn scrotum skin to use it to cover the penis,” Vu said.

After days of treatment and care, Y’s condition improved yesterday afternoon, the doctor said.

However, Vu warned that if the scrotum skin that has been used to cover the penis does not grow well in days to come, the hospital will have to perform another operation to ensure the urine excretion function of the penis.

At the hospital, Y told the media that he was riding his motorbike on interprovincial road 10 when he was knocked down by the bus, which then dragged him until he lost consciousness from the extreme pain.

Witnesses said the testicles were cut off as his genital area was rubbing against the roadway.

Y does not yet know about the loss of his testicles, since both doctors and his family have yet to reveal the extent of his injuries to him.

Children's input sought on law

Children's opinions will be collected and considered by lawmakers to amend the Law on Child Education, Protection and Care, according to the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs (MOLISA) at a press meeting yesterday.

In co-operation with other State agencies, the United Nations Children's Fund, and non-governmental organisations, MOLISA will collect children's opinions via the internet, a telephone hotline and a survey in 10 cities and provinces.

The questions posed to children focus on the organisation of children forums and the legal age of children.

Opinions will be collected from now until September 12.

Vinh Phuc repatriates martyrs’ remains from Laos

The Military Command of northern Vinh Phuc province has received three sets of remains of Vietnamese experts and volunteer soldiers who laid down their lives on the Lao battlefield on the occasion of the 65th anniversary of War Invalids and Martyrs’ Day (July 27).

Found by the Defence Ministry’s search group, the remains were identified as natives to the province.

The provincial Military Command will hand over the remains to their families and hold a reburial ceremony in the near future.

On the occasion, the provincial chapter of the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union called on the community to lighten 10,000 martyrs’ graves at 130 cemeteries across the locality by installing more solar lamps.

Japan supports safer control of air-traffic

A facility to support air traffic control was launch Ha Noi on Wednesday, as part of work funded by the Japan International Co-operation Agency (JICA) to improve air traffic safety in the region.

The new Flight Procedure Office (FPO) for Viet Nam, Laos and Cambodia in the capital city aims to better ensure safety for the growing number of flights to and from Viet Nam.

According to JICA, flights to and from Viet Nam now exceed 150,000 annually, while those passing through Vietnamese airspace top 250,000 each year.

The FPO will provide advice and guidance on flight procedures such as instrument checks and maintenance and assist the three countries in scheduling flights with hi-tech software that can automatically process many of the complicated calculations required to design flight paths and ensure effective air traffic control.

The office will be also responsible for training people from Viet Nam, Laos and Cambodia in air traffic control, air navigation and ways to enhance overall management of flights.

New terminal gets cutting edge technologies

The most up-to-date cutting edge technologies for the new terminal T2 at Noi Bai International Airport in Hanoi will be provided by Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).

This was released during a meeting between the terminal’s managers and operators to discuss the ongoing operations on July 11 in Hanoi.

It was also an excellent opportunity for the Terminal’s management team to learn about the management and operational procedures currently in use at Narita Airport, the third busiest airport in the world.

Construction on the new four-floored terminal started in December 2011. It will cover a total area of 140,000 sq.m and cost over 75 billion JPY (US$960 million), including a 59 billion JPY loan from Japan in ODA.

Police seize 5.5kg of drugs from foreigners

Over the course of five days in June, customs officials in Ho Chi Minh City siezed 5.5 kg of drugs that foreigners tried to smuggle into Vietnam, according to a recent report by Vietnam of Voice (VOV).

On June 28, Tan Son Nhat International Airport officials inspected a brown suitcase and two handbags belonging to Filipina Erlinda Bertulfo Libron, 56.

She had tried to hide 2.08 kg of drugs wrapped in carbon paper during a flight from Dohar, the report said.

Just five days earlier, customs caught Nigerian E.B. Ikechukwu, 30, transporting 3.5 kg of methamphetamine from Bangkok.

Also in June, a court in Ho Chi Minh City sentenced a Thai college student to death for trafficking 3 kilograms of drugs into Vietnam last year.

Many rural poor to get tap water

Nearly 1.4 million poor people living in Viet Nam's rural areas will be given access to running water and financial support to help them install water-tanks, heard a conference in Ha Noi on Tuesday.

The Community Hygiene Output-based Aid Programme in its second phase (2012-15) was held by the East Meets West Foundation Global Partnership and the Viet Nam Women's Union.

The programme aims to increase the rate of access to hygiene and prom-ote changes in hygienic behaviour in poor communities in rural areas in Viet Nam and Cambodia, focusing on 20 per cent of the poorest households.

In the second phase, the southern provinces of Dong Thap, Tra Vinh and Tien Giang; the central provinces of Thanh Hoa and Ha Tinh; and the northern provinces of Hai Duong and Ninh Binh will all participate in the programme.

Poor households in 244 communes in the localities will receive financial support from VND1.4-10 million (US$67-480) to improve toilets and water storage facilities.

By June 2015, 126,000 women will have received aid to help them install toilets and septic tanks, and about 2,600 volunteers will be trained periodically on community hygiene.

The first phase from 2010-11 was implemented successfully in the Mekong Delta, helping 4,200 poor and nearly poor families in the southern provinces of Tien Giang, Long An and Dong Thap to build toilets and install hand washing facilities with running water.

According to the World Health Organisation, about 50 million Vietnamese people do not have hygienic toilet facilities or septic tanks. Furthermore, poor hygiene kills 20,000 people in Viet Nam each year.

Ethnic families to return to abandoned village

The Government is funding a project to assist 150 M'nong ethnic minority families in Dak Nong Province in the Central Highlands to return to two villages they abandoned in 1975.

The Tuy Duc District People's Committee is giving each of them 400sq.m of housing land, a small house costing VND30-40 million, and two hectares of agricultural land in Bu Prang 1 and 2 villages in Quang Truc Commune.

They used to live there until 1975 before moving out and closer to the centre of Quang Truc. But with an increase in population in recent years, many of them faced a shortage of agricultural land and wanted to return to their old villages.

With the VND100 billion (US$4.7 million) it received from the Government, the district People's Committee is also building infrastructure in the two villages like asphalt roads, electricity and water supply, clinics, kindergartens, and primary schools.

It has also provided financial support for the households to grow macadamia on 170ha. Seedlings are expected to be provided by the end of this month.

It has begun to reclaim the eight-hectare Dac Huyt 4 field to provide more farm land to the families.

Some of the families have already moved back to the two villages where the infrastructure is likely to be ready by year end.

Maths guru gives lectures in Viet Nam

Field medallist Ngo Bao Chau is giving lectures in a course held by the Viet Nam Institute for Advanced Study in Mathematics (VIASM) from July 11 to August 18.

The course is an annual activity of the institute that takes advantage of professor Chau's return trips to Viet Nam for summer vacations. This year's course welcomes 18 students and researchers from many top national universities in the US, South Korea and Canada.

Chau, now a professor at the University of Chicago, received the Fields Medal in 2010, making him the first and the only Vietnamese to get the world's most prestigious maths award.

Italy funds seminar on psychotherapy

A three-day course on Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR) opens today, funded by the Embassy of Italy and in co-ordination with the pharmaceutical Company Medlac.

The course is composed of 36 psychiatrists and psychologists from Ha Noi, Quang Ninh, Nghe An and Bac Ninh provinces, and will be held by doctor Annarita Verardo, member of the Italian Psychological Association and of the EMDR European Child Committee.

EMDR is a compreh-ensive psychotherapy that accelerates the treatment of a wide range of pathologies related to disturbing events. It has been proven to be very effective with trauma patients.

Infectious diseases remain worrisome

Infectious diseases such as dengue fever, hand-foot-mouth (HFM), bizarre skin and HIV are still complex in the first haft of this year, according to the General Statistics Office (GSO).  

Around 57,900 people have been infected with HFM disease alone and 29 have died, reported the GSO.

However, Nguyen Van Binh, Head of the Preventive Medicine Department, said the number of reported cases has been decreasing gradually from 3,000 per week in May to about 1,900 per week in June and July.

Meanwhile, 23,200 cases of dengue fever have been confirmed, 11 of which have resulted in death.

The bizarre skin, which was first recorded in April 2011 in Ba To District, Quang Nam province, has affected 216 local people and claimed 11 lives.

In addition, 1,200 more people have been diagnosed as HIV positive in June, raising the total number of such cases in the reviewed period to 256,000, more than one-fifth of whom have died.

VNN/VOV/VNS/Tuoi Tre