Hospital K opens new cancer unit

At a ceremony here yesterday to mark completion of the first phase of the Hospital K extension unit in Tan Trieu Commune in the capital city's Thanh Tri District, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung called for faster implementation of a project aimed at reducing overlead in the nation's hospital system.

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung visits a patient at the Hospital K extension unit

in Tan Trieu Commune in Ha Noi's Thanh Tri District yesterday, Aug 19. 

Located on a site of 6.6ha, the US$47.6 million facility aims to satisfy the need for of cancer diagnosis and treatment facilities in the country's northerb region. While the 1,000-bed facility is slated for completion in 2013, phase on puts a 300-bed unit into service.

"Putting 300 beds into operation in this first phase will play an important role in improving the diagnosis and treatment of cancer patients and help reduce overload at Hospital K," said hospital director Bui Dieu.

Hospital K, the largest cancer treatment facility in the northern region, currently has two units with a capacity of 810 beds on Quan Su Street and in Tam Hiep Commune in Thanh Tri District.

Hospital K was facing a pressing overload, with over 4,000 patients coming to the hospital daily for examinations and another 3,000 inpatients, Dieu said.

Hospital K was operating at 172-per-cent capacity, while Bach Mai Hospital in Ha Noi was at 168 per cent and Cho Ray Hospital in HCM City at 139 per cent.

Patient overload in central hospitals was a pressing issue that has received a great deal of attention from the Government, the healthcare sector and the public, agreed Dung, urging the healthcare sector to continue strengthening its capacity for cancer treatment nationwide, especially at central-level hospitals.

According to the health ministry, the overload in centrally-run hospitals has become more severe in the last couple of years. Public hospitals was reportedly operating at an average capacity of 116 per cent in 2009, 120 per cent in 2010 and 118 per cent last year.

Minister of Health Nguyen Thi Kim Tien told a session of the National Assembly Standing Committee earlier this year that reducing the overload at centrally-run hospitals was one of the ministry's key tasks through 2015. Under a master plan submitted to the Government by the ministry, priority would be given to increasing the number of hospital beds, upgrading provincial and district hospitals, and building satellite hospitals specialising in cancer, plastic surgery and other specialties.

Girl detained and threatened with burning rescued

A 19-year-old girl was rescued Sunday from being detained in a locked room in Ho Chi Minh City by her boyfriend, who poured petrol on her body and around the room and threatened to set it on fire to commit suicide after she had asked to terminate their loving relationship.

After leaving the Nhat Thu Hotel in Tang Nhon Phu A Ward in District 9, Ho Van Quy, 22, drove his girlfriend, NTTH, 19, back to her hired room in Quarter 4 in Tang Nhon Phu B Ward of the district Saturday evening.

At 9:00 pm on Saturday Quy, who is from Duc Linh District in the central province of Binh Thuan, locked the room’s door and took out fuel from his bike in three containers. He poured the petrol on his girlfriend’s body and around the room and threatened to set them on fire to commit suicide.

After neighbors heard the commotion they alerted police, who arrived at the scene soon after.

A strong smell of fuel was being emitted from the room, said lieutenant colonel Trinh Van Sam – chief of the inspection team of the Police Department of Ho Chi Minh City’s District 9.

Not only did he threaten to set the room on fire, but Quy held his girlfriend at knifepoint and kept on shouting, “Burning to kill all!”, according to the policeman.

Police contacted his relatives in his home town and asked them to call Quy and persuade him to calm down, but he refused to surrender to police.

The situation lasted for ten hours, till 6:45 am the following morning, Sunday, when police switched the electricity supply off and deployed fire fighting and ambulance vehicles to prepare for action.

When he agreed to let his girlfriend go to the restroom inside the room, policemen broke through the door and restrained the man.

The girl was rescued after a long ordeal of threats of burning and knife wounds.

At the police station, Quy said he met his girlfriend last month and fell in love with her. They visited their families many times to prepare for marriage. But the girl later asked to end their relationship because he beat her.

On hearing that H was pregnant, her relatives met with Quy and directly asked him to end the relationship.

Now, Quy is under police custody for “making threats of murder and illegal detainment”.

Food poisoning outbreak in Highlands

Food poisoning symptoms required 25 people in the Central Highlands province of Lam Dong's Duc Trong District to be hospitalised yesterday evening.

The first cases of an apparent food poisoning outbreak came to the centre on Saturday, with symptoms of vomiting, severe abdominal pains, acute diarrhoea and high fever. All reported buying products from a bakery in Lien Nghia township.

A similar case occurred in the township about a month ago, with 20 people hospitalised for food poisoning after buying products from another local bakery.

Ho Chi Minh City police launch official website

Ho Chi Minh City Police Department on Saturday launched its first official website at http://catphcm.bocongan.gov.vn/wps/portal/ to work as a bridge of information to provide locals with updated information about policies, legal procedures and other public services in the city.

Locals can find useful information and news in Vietnamese in the areas of administrative procedures, legal documents, security and crime in the city. It also facilitates locals in applying for identification cards, passports, and permanent or temporary residence registrations.

The website is aimed at speeding up the reform of administrative management of the municipal police force.

The inauguration of the site is also a celebration on the occasion of the 67th anniversary of the establishment of the people’s police forces on August 19.

Tunnel collapse kills two in Nghe An

A tunnel collapse yesterday afternoon, Aug 19, at the Nam Pong hydroelectric facility in the central province of Nghe An's Quy Chau District left two dead and five seriously injured, according to initial counts.

The injured were reported to include foreign nationals. All were hospitalised at Quy Chau General Hospital, about 15km from the facility by forest road.

A landmine explosion was believed to be the reason of the collapse, but local authorities are further investigating.

Journey helps pay for educational materials

Canon Viet Nam has implemented a "Help with love" journey from the north to the south, donating educational materials to a total of 10 primary, secondary and high schools in poor provinces.

The total value of donated presents this year is VND800 million.

The donated materials include textbooks to library, school bags for young pupils and teachers and valuable equipment such as cassette players, personal computers and printers.

Hepatitis continues to kill thousands annually

About 20 million Vietnamese people are infected with hepatitis B and C – and thousands die from the disease each year.

In central Da Nang City yesterday, the chairman of the Viet Nam Association for the Study Of Liver Diseases, Dinh Quy Lan, said the liver disease killed thousands of people each year.

"This is why we have launched a massive fight against it. It is so easy to become infected by the virus if we aren't careful," Lan said.

Vice president Nguyen Thi Doan said the campaign organised by the association showed agencies' determination to fight diseases.

She said the health ministry should promote safe blood transfusions and take more care in preventing the disease spreading from mothers to babies during birth.

Chairman of the Association for Liver Disease Study in the Central Region and Central Highlands Le Loc said the association planned to set up disease control centres throughout the region.

"The centres will provide immediate treatment. We will encourage people to have regular blood tests," Loc said.

He added that giving vaccinations to babies was a good way to enhance the fight against the viral hepatitis.

Authorities erase 2 Ho Chi Minh City pavement ads

Local authorities are detecting and erasing ads painted onto the pavements in Ho Chi Minh City. In Vietnam, it is common to see advertisements on walls and metal barricades but this kind of PR is something new.

On August 16, many travelers passing Nam Ky Khoi Nghia Street in District 1 couldn’t stop raising eyebrows on seeing a giant picture painted on the street’s surface at the corner with Ly Tu Trong Street.

The painting, which depicts a big-sized cup of coffee, calls for investment in a series of coffee shops. Contact information including email address and phone numbers were also written on the pavement.

According to a xe om (motorbike taxi) driver at the location, the advertisement was created around early morning of August 16.
A similar advertisement was also found on the same street, at the corner with Vo Thi Sau in District 3.

Local authorities have erased the two ads and been investigating the matter. The Department of Information and Communications of HCMC has said the act of writing or drawing on public streets is illegal and a fine of VND5 million to VND10 million (US$240 – US$480) could be issued.

HCM City to subsidise education for poor

The HCM City People's Council has approved the municipal administration's proposal to issue several support policies for poor and nearly poor households in the 2012-2015 period.

These include specific regulations on education support for the 2012-2013 academic year.

The city expects to spend VND16.19 billion on implementing a policy that exempts or reduces school fees for city pupils who are taking "second shift" classes held in the afternoons. This shift has three 45-minute study periods per day, six days a week, as opposed to the "first shift" that will have five study periods.

The city also plans to subsidise 50 per cent of tuition fees for students from poor households whose average income is between VND10 million – 12 million per person per year, and 100 per cent of the fees for students from households with incomes below VND10 million per person per year.

A total of 1,500 such students are expected to be supported with VND4 billion.

The city will also support poor workers to learn English before going to work overseas. Another programme will provide vocational training support for poor workers from the city's 17 districts.

Crime decreases in first six months

The number of crimes in the first six months of this year decreased by 2.5 per cent compared with the same period last year, according to the Ministry of Public Security's statistics.

However, the number of economic and corruption cases increased by 1.2 per cent, the number of drug-related cases went up by 3 per cent and environmental cases were up by 45 per cent, the statistics said.

Reasons of the increase included socio-economical decline, bankrupted enterprises leading to unemployment, and violent online games, security experts said.

 Nam Dinh braces for floods by strengthening sea defences

Reinforcing dykes that face the sea helped the northern coastal province of Nam Dinh lessen storm damage and ensure people's safety, said the provincial Agriculture and Rural Development Department.

The province contains 91km of sea and estuary dykes and has reinforced 52km of them.

With a total investment of more than VND789 billion (US$38 million), the 5m-wide dykes running through Hai Hau, Giao Thuy and Nghia Hung districts were fortified with 20cm-thick cement blocks. The dyke belt also created a road along the sea.

Over the past two years, the province has planted about 38ha of trees along the embankment to serve as a natural fence, preventing waves from hitting the dykes.

The reinforcement initiative followed the Prime Minister's 2006 decision to invest in dyke embankment in 13 coastal provinces from Quang Ninh in the north to Quang Nam in the central region. This decision was issued after a heavy storm in 2005 damaged many dykes in Nam Dinh Province, resulting in heavy losses for local residents.

The purpose of the dyke reinforcing programme was to help the coastal provinces minimise damages caused by flood, sea water rising and salinisation.

Presently the province is carrying out seven other dyke projects worth VND868billion ($42 million).

* Central region targets control of erosion

Authorities in the central provinces of Thua Thien-Hue and Quang Ngai have given urgent priority to the growing problem of land erosion near rivers, coastal areas and mountains.

Quang Ngai has approved six projects that will cost billions of dong to move households from landslide-prone areas to resettlement sites, according to Do Ky An, the head of the province's Rural Development Office.

Under the projects, more than 375 households will be moved to six resettlement areas located in Ly Son, Nghia Hanh, Son Tinh, Tay Tra and Ba To districts.

The People's Committee is working with local agencies on four projects, which will cost VND30.6 billion (US$1.4 million), of which VND21 billion ($1 million) will be taken from the province's budget.

If the projects are completed in the third quarter of this year, 154 households would benefit.

In Thua Thien-Hue Province, local authorities will launch two projects to build embankments along the coastal area of Dong Hai near Tam Giang lagoon.

In recent years, land erosion in the area has damaged 1,200 households, causing dozens of houses to fall into the sea.

Many seabank areas in the province face a high risk of landslides along an eight-kilometre stretch of coast.

"As the flood season is coming, our villagers' houses are in danger of falling into the sea," said resident Huynh Ne of Huong Tra District's Hai Duong Commune, which is one of the areas that face the highest risk of landslides.

"We want to benefit from the province's resettlement programmes," he added.

"The provincial government has invested more than VND40 billion ($1.9 million) to move 900 households from landslides to resettlement areas," said Phan Thanh Hung, head of the province's Dyke Management and Flood and Storm Control Office.

However, another 1,000 households must be moved, said Hung, adding that the projects had been implemented slowly because the province lacked the necessary VND20 billion (US$1 million) to do so.

The province has developed new residential areas to resettle families in recent years, but local officials said they did not have the budget to build dykes.

The problem of land erosion has gained greater urgency with recent housing collapses that have killed residents and destroyed property.

According to experts, the main reasons for increasing land erosion are the over-exploitation of sand, weak dyke systems, and higher volumes of water from seas, rivers and canals.

VNN/VOV/VNS/Tuoi Tre