WHO Chief Representative honoured with Friendship Order

The World Health Organization (WHO)’s Chief Representative of in Vietnam, Jean Marc Olive, has been awarded a Friendship Order from the Vietnamese State.

Photo: VOV

In his speech, Vietnamese ambassador to France Duong Chi Dung praised Mr Olive’s contributions and his tireless efforts to help Vietnam prevent avian flu and AH1N1 influenza epidemics in 2009.

Thanks to his assistance, Vietnam has successfully applied advanced technology and upgraded medical facilities to improve the healthcare system, Mr Dung said.

The ambassador also spoke highly of his support for Vietnam’s extended immunization program and its efforts to prevent and control HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria, non-infectious diseases.

Apart from helping Vietnam take part in international medial conferences and forums, Mr Olive has engaged in the process of preparing documents related to agreements signed by the Vietnamese Government and healthcare development assistance partners.

For his part, Mr Olive thanked the Vietnamese Government and State for the award which he said indicates the Vietnamese people’s fine sentiment towards him and the development of France-Vietnam cooperation in the medical sector.

Hospital succeeds in internal organ transplant

Viet Duc Hospital on Monday succeeded in four internal organ transplants according to the hospital's director Nguyen Tien Quyet.

Organs were donated from a 30–year-old man who suffered brain paralysis after a traffic accident. His heart, liver and kidneys were donated to four patients from Ha Noi, Vinh Phuc and Thai Binh provinces. Thanks to the efforts of 150 doctors and medical personnel, the patients were all in recovery two days after their operations.

This is the second round of successful internal organ transplants at the hospital. The first time occurred in April of 2011.

Chinese man caught with $45,000 on leaving Vietnam

A Chinese passenger, Guo Zhi, was caught carrying US$45,000 in cash without reporting it to customs when he was about to leave Vietnam at Tan Son Nhat Airport in Ho Chi Minh City yesterday, Jan 17.

Customs officers found the amount in the hand luggage of the 27 year-old man, who took flight CZ368 from HCMC to the Chinese province of Guang Zhou on Tuesday.

Zhi failed to show the officers a license from the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) allowing him to leave Vietnam with such an amount.

Under a SBV regulation, from September 1, 2011, the carrying of more than $5,000 in cash, or an equivalent amount in other foreign currencies, when leaving Vietnam must be reported to customs for resolution.

The airport customs let Zhi keep $5,000 with him and made an administrative violation report to retain the excessive amount of $40,000 for handling according to applicable regulations.

Bus times adjusted to meet new work hours

Bus schedules will be adjusted at the beginning of February to fit with new work and school hours under orders from the Ha Noi People's Committee.

The Ha Noi Transport Corporation was ordered to adjust the frequency of buses at rush hours and to add bus routes along streets where taxis are banned.

The city's Transport Department has planned to put an additional 68 buses into service to better serve passenger travel demands before and after Tet.

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has asked the Finance Ministry to provide 9,880 tonnes of rice from the national reserve to people in seven provinces for Tet and during the in-between-crop period.

The allocations are: Lai Chau, 2,034 tonnes; Kon Tum, 390 tonnes; Binh Dinh, 2,000 tonnes; Thanh Hoa, 1,060 tonnes; Quang Nam, 2,000 tonnes; Phu Yen, 395 tonnes; and Dak Lak, 2,000 tonnes.

The PM asked provincial People's Committees to distribute the rice promptly and precisely. He said if misuse was detected, remaining rice must be returned to the national reserve and those involved would have to pay back the reserve.

Seeking support from fund

After being reported about the capture, the provincial People’s Committee had worked with Vietnam’s Foreign Ministry and the boats’ owners to handle the incident and bring the fishermen home, said Cao Xuan Thu Van, acting chief of the Secretariat of the Committee.

The committee had thought that all the 48 fishermen would be sent back to Vietnam at the same time and did not know that 28 of them remained in Malaysia until their relatives reported, Van said.

The committee has asked the boat owners to make written commitments on payment of the cost of sending back the 28 fishermen to Vietnam. Based on the commitments, the ministry will ask the Overseas Vietnamese Protection Fund to transfer a sum to the Vietnamese Embassy in Malaysia to pay for air tickets for the fishermen, Van said.

After the fishermen returned to Vietnam, the boats’ owners would reimburse the Fund through the committee, she said.

The authorities are coordinating with the Foreign Ministry’s Consular Department and the Fund to carry out procedures necessary for repatriating the fishermen as soon as possible, she added.

ADB further assists poverty reduction in Vietnam

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Government of Vietnam have signed a US$24.8 million loan agreement to support policy reforms needed for fostering the country’s inclusive growth and ensuring further poverty reduction.  

Present at the signing ceremony in Hanoi on January 17 were State Bank of Vietnam’s Governor Nguyen Van Binh, and ADB Country Director for Vietnam Tomoyuki Kimura.

The ADB programme loan provides parallel financing to the Poverty Reduction Support Credit framework supported by a number of development partners. The Poverty Reduction Support Credits help Vietnam carry out a wide range of policy reforms in the areas of business development, social inclusion, natural resource management, and governance to ensure successful implementation of the 2011-2020 Socioeconomic Development Strategy, and the 2011-2015 Socioeconomic Development Plan.

“Poverty reduction cannot be sustained without inclusive economic growth,” said Kimura. “Further efforts should be made to accelerate reforms to strengthen institutional and human capacity, governance, and policies to address the development challenges and to promote economic growth.”

Vietnam's poverty rate declined significantly from 15.5 percent in 2006 to 9.5 percent in 2010 as a result of the country's rapid economic growth and improved social welfare programmes. However, selected groups remain vulnerable to poverty. The poverty incidence among ethnic minority groups remains very high at more than 50 percent in 2009.

“The root causes of macroeconomic stability can be addressed only by deepening the finance sector, imposing market discipline on state-owned enterprises, and improving the efficiency of public investments,” added Kimura. “The Government and people of Vietnam expect ADB to remain a reliable partner in their reform process for pursuit of economic growth and poverty reduction, and we are well positioned to rise to these expectations.”

The first Vietnamese crewman aboard on board a Korean ship that caught fire in the Ross Sea 3,700km from southeastern New Zealand arrived back in Hanoi on January 17.

The Department of Overseas Labour Management under the Ministry of Labour,,Invalids and Social Affairs said Nguyen Tu Liem was only slightly injured while three others - Tran Van Ngoan, Ngo Van Sy and Nguyen Chi Cong - are still being treated at a New Zealand hospital. They will return home when they have completely recovered.

The Vietnamese embassy in New Zealand has asked the BCR Limited Company, the ship’s owner, to coordinate with Korean and New Zealand rescue agencies to search for the three Vietnamese sailors that remain missing and preparing the necessary documents to bring others home.

The embassy will closely with relevant agencies to support the injured crewmen and protect the remaining sailors.

A total of 23 Vietnamese nationals were on board the Korean ship Jeong Woo2 when it caught fire on January 11, 2012.

Minister lauds growing military co-operation with Japan

Military co-operation between Viet Nam and Japan was on the right track, said Minister of National Defence General Phung Quang Thanh while receiving Japanese Parliamentary Vice Minister of Defence Mitsu Shimojo in Ha Noi yesterday.

The Japanese army delegation, led by Shimojo, also met with Senior Lieutenant General Nguyen Chi Vinh, Deputy Minister of National Defence, earlier in the day.

Both sides agreed to foster ties with delegation exchanges, training and searching for co-operation opportunities in policy research, and search-and-rescue activities at sea.

Presenting Tet gifts to poor pupils in Son La

Radio the Voice of Vietnam (VOV) and the Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BIDV) have presented gifts and 100 scholarships worth VND300,000 each to poor pupils in the northern mountainous province of Son La.

All pupils in Huy Tan and Suoi Bau villages are ethnic minority children who lack basic learning and teaching facilities.

Suoi Bau is one of three most disadvantaged villages in province and many people do not have access to electricity and safe water.

Most pupils have to go to boarding-schools but dormitories for pupils have not been built so classrooms are used as accommodation.

Da Nang subsidises dialysis for the poor

Vo Nhu Trong, 28, of Quang Nam Province is being treated for chronic kidney failure at the Da Nang General Hospital. But he does not have to pay a single dong since the municipal government fully subsidises treatment for patients with medical insurance.

Trong has to get a dialysis three times a month plus drugs, and it used to cost him VND1 million (US$49) a month – a large sum for this poor farmer – since the insurance only covers 80 to 95 per cent of the treatment cost depending on the hospital.

But last June the city decided to cover the difference too for all patients at the hospital.

Nguyen Tai, 52, of Da Nang has also been treated for chronic kidney failure at the hospital for the last five years. He says his poor family's condition has worsened because of the burden of his treatment cost, adding he had thought he could not continue the treatment.

Dr Tran Ngoc Thanh, head of the Da Nang General Hospital, says 180 patients with chronic kidney failure, many of them poor, are being provided dialysis.

Each patient requires it three times a month and it costs VND400,000 each time while drugs cost VND2-3.6 million a week.

Thus, even with health insurance, it costs a patient more than VND1 million a month.

Dr Nguyen Huu Da, head of the hospital's dialysis ward, says patients with kidney failure require lifelong treatment.

"But poor patients cannot afford it, so the Government should have policies to help them."

Da Nang is the only place in the country to help poor patients with renal problems, he adds.

The subsidies cost the city around VND60 million ($2,860) a month.

It has also spent nearly VND8 billion ($380,950) to buy a dialysis machine, Thanh says.

US$86 million for medical system

The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria will provide Vietnam with US$86 million to implement a healthcare system project in the 2012-2016 period.

The project will be divided into two phases. The first will be carried out in 15 provinces, focusing on four year training programmes for 1,000 doctors and 6-9 month training courses for 6,000 communal medical staff on HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria, maternal and child healthcare.

The second phase will help increase the capacity building of the National Centre of Drug Information and Adverse Drug Reactions Monitoring.

VNN/VOV/VNS/Tuoi Tre