Leader meets, lauds children in dire straits

President Truong Tan Sang has asked all agencies to join hands in activities to encourage children in difficult circumstances to overcome their problems and support them in their studies.

Speaking at a meeting with 50 disavantaged children from across the country in Ha Noi yesterday, Sang said that help from organisations and individuals was important for the children's efforts in study and life.

He expressed his wish for the Presidential Palace to continue to host and praise children who have demonstrated extraordinary efforts in overcoming difficulties every year on Children's Day, June 1.

The 50 children, who despite living in difficult conditions have all excelled in their studies, have gathered in the capital for the fifth such meeting held by the Viet Nam Children Sponsorship Fund and the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs.

Two more die of unknown skin disease in Quang Ngai

While health authorities have yet to identify the cause of the mysterious skin disease in central Quang Ngai Province, two more people died in Ba To District in the past 3 days, taking the death toll to 23 so far.

34-year-old woman, Pham Thi Trieu, in Reu Hamlet, Ba Dien Commune, died at 10 am on May 30 at the provincial General Hospital while 9-year-old boy, Pham Van T, died on May 28 in the same hamlet.

Luong Ngoc Khue, head of the Health Ministry’s Department of Medical Examination and Treatment, said the hair samples taken from the boy contained arsenic at a level 100 times higher than the country’s acceptable limit.

The disease has so far spread to five communes in Ba To district, including Ba Dien, Ba Ngac, Ba Xa, Ba Vinh and Ba To, of which Ba Dien is leading with the most cases.

The mysterious skin disease that first occurred in the district on April 19, 2011 is characterized by thickened skin (keratosis) over the palms and soles, causing stiffness in the limbs and ulcers on victims' hands and feet that look like burns.

There has been no disease in the world so far that is exactly identical to the strange syndrome in Quang Ngai, Health Deputy Minister Nguyen Thanh Long said at recent conference.

Most of the patients have elevated liver enzymes, but they do not suffer from infectious diseases since no symptoms of infection have been found, according to the results of patient blood tests made by Japan’s Nagasaki University, he said.

Health workers have found more than 200 species of insects, including mites, ticks and fleas, in disease-impacted areas, but no evidence has been found to link them with the disease.

According to some scientific councils, the strange syndrome might be caused by toxic substances that affect malnourished people with low immunity.

Laparoscopic surgery successfully completed

Surgeons from the Viet Nam National Pediatrics Hospital yesterday successfully operated on a fourteen-month old boy's choledochal cyst via laparoscopy, the 500th such case in Viet Nam since 2007.

According to the hospital director, Nguyen Thanh Liem, choledochal cysts are congenital conditions involving cystic dilatation of bile ducts. They are uncommon in western countries, but not as rare in Asian nations like Viet Nam and China.

The boy undergoing the surgery is Nghiem Quang Thanh from Vu Thu District in northern Thai Binh Province. His father Nghiem Quang Viet said he brought Thanh to the provincial hospital two months ago with symptoms such as high temperature, abdominal pain and jaundice. However, the hospital failed to treat him and moved him to the National Pediatrics Hospital.

With laparoscopic operations, patients can eat two days after and five days later be discharged.

A hospital study on more than 600 patients since 2007 showed that laparoscopic operations are safer than open operations on choledochal cysts.

"Moreover, the patients' recovery and hospital stay are shorter and the cosmetic result is superior," Liem said.

Viet Nam is one of the few countries in Asia with the highest number of choledochal cyst cases. It is reported that around 100 patients are operated on per year, two-third being girls. The hospital is studying the reasons behind the unequal numbers amongst boys and girls.

Businessperson gets life sentence for swindling $1 mil

37-year-old Le Hoang Minh, former director of Tan Gia Hao Joint Stock Company in Ho Chi Minh City, has been sentenced to life imprisonment for swindling a businessman of US$1 million.

The HCMC People’s Court opened a trial for Minh yesterday, who was arrested in 2009, on charges of “swindling to appropriate assets”.

According to the indictment, in 2007, Tan Gia Hao, a trade, services, and import-export consultancy company, applied to the HCMC People’s Committee to develop a mixed-use complex at 289 Tran Hung Dao Street, in District 1.

Minh later called for investors to engage themselves in the project as his company’s partners, but he did not carry out procedures to obtain an investment license for the project.

The city authorities therefore withdrew the project and assigned it to Duc Khai Joint Stock Company, but Minh still claimed that his company was to be the investor and began to offer the project for sale.

Minh then duped Hong Quang Real Estate Investment and Works Construction Company into buying the project in March 2008.

Truong Nhat Quang, the general director of the company, signed an agreement with Minh and paid him VND15.9 billion as a deposit, which equaled US$1 million according to the exchange rate at the time.

In 2009, when Quang came to know about the project’s true status, he demanded the money back, but Minh failed to return it to Quang, who later brought Minh’s swindling act to the police.

Aussie steel firm helps community project

BlueScope Steel Viet Nam is building a motorbike workshop in southern Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province to benefit poor children.
The workshop, costing VND90 million (about US$4,300), will be handed over to the Long Hai Children Sponsoring Centre by the end of this month.

Previously the company, an affiliate of Australian BlueScope Steel Limited, renovated two classrooms at Song Cau Elementary School, which were damaged by Typhoon Durian in 2006, and built two new classrooms. The total cost was VND155 million ($7,400).

Servo owner punished for selling bad petrol

A petrol station in northern Bac Giang City's Dinh Tri Commune has been closed down for 12 months and the owner fined VND100 million (US$4,750) for selling substandard fuel.

Doi Nen petrol station, owned by Sec-Viet Company, was found to be selling substandard petrol A92, illegally imported petrol and running the business without invoices.

Agents seized 19,500 litres of low quality petrol and 10,300 litres of smuggled petrol and ordered the recovery of bulk fuel already sold.

Woman hospitalised for unknown disease

A 34-year-old woman with breathing difficulties and skin peeling off the palms of her hands has been taken to a healthcare centre in central Quang Ngai Province.

Dinh Van Bum, head of the Son Ky Commune's communal health care centre said that It was suspected the woman had been in contact with a herbicide when she worked in the field three days before.

She is one of 15 people in the commune who have been treated for suspected herbicide poisoning over the past two months, four of whom died.

Provincial Health Department staff took samples of water and soil from the commune on Wednesday for tests.

Firms fined for using lean-meat additive

Three producers have been fined a total of VND123 million (US$5,900) for selling foods for animal and poultry containing salbutamol, a lean-meat additive banned in animals.

Authorities in southern Tay Ninh Province also seized nearly 120kg of animal and poultry food believed to contain the additive in the districts of Chau Thanh, Duong Minh Chau and Tan Chau.

The action was a result of tests carried out on samples of the food.

Media to promote Vietnamese-Japanese relations

The Media of Vietnam and Japan should promote cooperation to strengthen mutual understanding and foster friendly relations between the governments and peoples of both countries.

Vietnam’s Ambassador to Japan, Doan Xuan Hung, stated this at a reception for representatives of Japan’s daily newspaper the Nikkei and the Vietnam News Agency’s bureau in Tokyo on May 30.

Ambassador Hung said that 2013 has been chosen as Vietnam-Japan Friendship Year to mark the 40 th anniversary of the two countries establishing diplomatic ties. Both countries will hold a series of activities to acknowledge the event, including a Vietnamese Festival in Japan in September, seminars on Vietnam’s investment environment, discussions on human resources training and several cultural and arts programmes.

He also said that the media will play an important role in promoting these events and providing information about both countries, peoples and cultures.

Hidenaka Kato from the Nikkei said he hoped to work closely with the Vietnamese side to cover the joint events and at the same time strengthen links with the media in Vietnam.

Denmark helps expand corporate social agenda

More than 100 representatives from Vietnam-Denmark joint venture companies attended a seminar on corporate social responsibility (CSR) in HCM City on May 31, to raise social responsibility performance among enterprises in Vietnam.

This is part of the Vietnam-Denmark enterprise cooperation programme to improve Vietnamese enterprises’ competitiveness.
According to Thomas Frisenberg, Director of the Vietnam-Denmark joint venture E-softflow Ltd., to competently implement CSR, businesses should create a comfortable working environment for their employees, obey the law, ensure justice and create chances for their employees to improve their professional skills.

At the seminar, Danish experts introduced practical tools for enterprises to assess their CRS performance, seek suitable solutions to improve enterprises’ activities attached to the environment and society, as well as encourage Vietnam-Denmark joint ventures to engage in CRS.

VNN/VOV/VNS/Tuoi Tre