Reproductive medicine society founded

The Viet Nam Gynecologists, Obstetricians, and Family Planning Association's southern office and the Merck Sharp & Dohme (MSD) Viet Nam have established the Viet Nam Society for Reproductive Medicine (VSRM).

The VSRM aims to raise awareness and understanding about reproductive health care and gynecology, and to reduce risk and casualties caused by abortions.

It will also organise training courses on community health. In addition, VSRM will act as a representative for professionals who will contribute opinions about State policies related to reproductive medicine.

As the co-administrator of the association, MSD Viet Nam works closely with governments and health organisations to build public healthcare, expand the drug delivery system and develop in-depth research on special medications, especially for developing countries.

HCMC seizes 1.6 tons of mostly rotten pork

Many red blood spots appeared under the skin of the suckling pigs that were seized on Tuesday, Dec 20, in HCMC. (Photo: Tuoi Tre)

Ten minutes later, the team also checked a 16-seat van and discovered that it was carrying 50 kg of pork.

43 year-old Nguyen Duc Thang, the van’s driver from Dong Nai Province, also had no documents for the meat.

All the goods from the three vehicles were transported to the local station for official inspection. The officers later found that 116 kg of the pork had actually undergone quarantine, and they subsequently returned that meat to the relevant driver.

Meanwhile, the more than 1.5 tons of pork that remained would be destroyed, Tuyet said.

With Tet (the Lunar New Year) approaching, traders are boosting the transport of food, including pork, to the city for sale, she said.

Previously, on December 2nd, the same station seized roughly 500 kg of pork carried to the city from Dong Nai without documents in a van and a motorbike. The station later destroyed all 500 kg of the pork.

On November 27, the station also seized a passenger van carrying 1,074 kg of suckling pork and 577 kg of pig tripe and skin from the Central Highland province of Dak Lak. All of the goods were rotten and the driver had no documents for them.

In order to protect consumers’ health, the station has coordinated with the Rach Chiec Traffic Police Station to maintain inspections around the clock to prevent illicit or poor quality food from entering the city, she added.

Dietary supplements lack nutrients

The Viet Nam Food Administration on Monday reported the discovery of substandard dietary supplements for children on the market.

Smart Colostrum and Smart Plus 1, produced by the Ha Noi-based Biofocus Biotechnology-Pharmacy JSC, are reported to have low levels of Calcium, Vitamin B1 and Vitamin B2.

The administration conducted inspections of the company in response to a letter complaining about the quality of its food products. It has requested the company to discontinue sale of the substandard products and recall any of the products that are already on the market.

Hanoi’s Tet gifts for the poor worth nearly VND240 billion

Hanoi has decided to spend nearly VND240 billion purchasing Tet gifts for more than 82,000 social policy beneficiaries.

This was announced by Deputy Director of the Municipal Department of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs Le Toan Khang in Hanoi on December 20.

The beneficiaries include those who have rendered great services to the revolution, Agent Orange victims and pensioners and each gift is worth VND500,000, VND300,000 and VND200,000, respectively.

Ha Noi plans to close unsafe gas shops

Gas shops will be closed down if they fail to ensure safety in gas production, extraction, storage, transport and installation, according to instructions from the Ha Noi People's Committee vice chairman Nguyen Van Khoi.

The committee also requested local firefighting departments and authorities at lower levels to enhance their supervision of fire prevention activities at businesses.

According to the city's Firefighting and Prevention Department, at least 15 gas explosions and fires have been reported this year, killing at least four people and injuring 10 in the city's 1,600 gas stores.

20 cops seize 4 aggressive chain-snatchers

After a long chase and firing five shots into the air, 20 police officers eventually seized four gangsters who had snatched a necklace chain from a woman on National Highway 1A in Tien Giang Province on Monday, Dec 19.

They are Tran Tuan Khai, of Can Tho City’s Ninh Kieu District, Nguyen Doan Hoang Phat, of Binh Thuan Province’s Duc Linh District; Nguyen Thi Thuy Dung, of Kien Giang Province’s Ha Tien Town; and Trung My Hanh, of Hau Giang Province’s Chau Thanh District.

The incident occurred at 9 am Monday, when a woman was travelling on her motorbike on the highway in Cai Be District when four gangsters on two motorbikes suddenly closed in on her and one of them snatched the chain from her neck.

The violent act caused the woman to fall on the highway while the gangsters speeded up to flee from the scene.

Two traffic police officers on duty at the Trung Luong Traffic Control Station nearby immediately ran after the snatchers and called other police units for assistance.

When the gangsters reached Cai Lay District, in a desperate act, they rode straight into a police motorbike that was blocking their way and continued running away.

A moment later, they did the same to another police vehicle, prompting the police to deploy a truck to stop the criminals.

Confronted with a truck blocking their way, the criminals turned into a bypass and continued their escape.

Lieutenant Colonel Tran Van Binh, head of the Trung Luong Traffic Control Station, chased after them and then fired five shots into the air but the snatchers still did not stop until some police officers caught up with them and pulled them off their bike to fall on the ground.

The police later recovered the chain and handed the four criminals to the Cai Be District police for prosecution.

Preparing for Christmas celebrations

Diverse activities have been held throughout the country in preparation for Christmas celebrations.

On December 20, Secretary of the Phu Yen provincial Party Committee Dao Tan Loc and Chairman of the Phu Yen provincial People’s Committee Huynh Tan Viet visited local Catholic dignitaries. Mr Loc told them that the province will create the best possible conditions for them to take part in cultural activities and contribute to boosting socio-economic development in the locality.

In the province, there are 12 Catholic churches with a total 18,000 believers.

On the same day, the Quang Nam provincial People’s Committee held a get-together with Catholic dignitaries to inform them about the socio-economic achievements in 2011. Provincial leaders praised their active participation in patriotic emulation movements.

Leaders of Hai Duong province visited and presented gifts to local Catholic dignitaries who have joined efforts to build a happy life for the whole community.

 At a meeting to mark the Christmas season, Nguyen Cong Danh, Chairman of the Vietnam Catholic Unity Committee said over the years, Catholic people in Vietnam have taken part in many charitable activities to raise funds for natural disaster victims, poor people, children with disabilities, orphans and lonely elder people.

On the occasion, President of the Vietnam Fatherland Front (VFF), Huynh Dam also sent a congratulatory letter to the Catholic population across the country.

Massage parlor boss faces retrial over crime

The owner of Tan Hoang Phat massage parlor, Phan Cao Tri, 38, and his subordinates had their sentences recently reduced by an appeals court in Ho Chi Minh City, but they may be retried following a demand by a high-ranking prosecution official.

Le Thanh Duong, head of the Institute for Enforcement of Prosecution and Procuracy Rights of Appeal, yesterday proposed to the head of the Supreme People’s Procuracy that he re-consider the lowered sentences given to Tri and his accomplices by the appeal court of the Supreme People’ Court in HCMC on December 12.

Duong demanded that the all the verdicts be annulled and all the defendants be re-tried, since there was no legal ground for the court to reduce their sentences.

At the appeal trial, based on the argument that there was only one victim in the case, not 93 as concluded by the first instance court, the court reduced Tri’s sentence from 12 to 6 years in prison for “illegally detaining people” and “appropriating properties.”

Phan Thi Yen, Tri’s wife, also saw her sentence reduced from 6 to 3 years in jail for “appropriating properties”. Similarly, Tri’s four employees also had their sentences lowered.

However, Duong said it was wrong for the appeal court to conclude that only one masseuse fell victim in the case and that the other 92 were just witnesses.

According to the investigation results, Tri recruited women as masseuses for his five parlors in Ho Chi Minh City and the neighboring provinces of Dong Nai and Binh Duong starting in2005, Duong said.

He hired guards to keep watch on them to prevent them from escaping from the parlors because the women, many of whom came from poor rural areas, were also forced to perform sexual acts on their customers for up to 16 hours a day.

Anyone who wanted to quit had to pay VND15 million (US$ 770). Some who could not afford this amount attempted to run away but were captured and then beaten. The police said 9 women had paid a total of VND169 million to quit.

Anyone who refused to follow orders or received a complaint from a customer would also be beaten up or locked without food in dog cages.

Following complaints from the female employees, the police raided Tri’s main parlor, Tan Hoang Phat in Thu Duc District, in December 2008 and rescued all the masseuses.
Therefore, all 93 women were victims in the case, Duong said.

He also pointed out that the appeal trial had been conducted in a one-sided and biased manner.

RoK supports vocational training for women

A vocational training project jointly implemented by the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs (MoLISA) and the Korean Ministry of Gender Equality and Family (KMGEF) has brought practical benefits to Vietnamese women.

The project, being undertaken in Can Tho City, aims to equip local women with occupational skills as well as social and legal knowledge. It also helps create better conditions for the beneficiaries to join the labour market and social activities, and develop careers to increase their incomes and contribute to social development.

During the pilot phase, the project is running a café that provides jobs for women, offering telephone consultations, teaching the Korean language, and organising job festivals.

At a review meeting in Can Tho on December 20, delegates stressed that this is the first such project in Vietnam developed by the KMGEF and the MoLISA. It has provided friendly, useful services for female workers and offered them opportunities to choose jobs that will improve their living conditions, as well as their role and position in the family and society.

They asked the MoLISA and the KMGEF to continue supporting the project and expand it to other provinces, especially in the Mekong Delta region.

Eight face charges in deadly train case

The police in Dong Nai Province’s Bien Hoa City have asked the local Procuracy to prosecute eight people for their involvement in the train crash on the Ghenh Bridge last February that killed two.

According to the case files referred by the police to the prosecutor’s office, four employees responsible for operating the train crossing barrier -- Bui Van Thuan, 40, Tran Van Thoi, 27, Nguyen Van Luong, 54, and Tran Viet Hai, 20 -- and To Quang Toan, 40, traffic signal employee, are charged with “irresponsibility causing serious consequences.”

Former train driver Nguyen Van Tuy, 43, and his assistant Nguyen Xuan Phu, 47, are facing charges of “violating regulations on operating railway transport means.”

Meanwhile, Tran Minh Chau, 51, may be prosecuted for “obstructing railway traffic.”

On February 6, a father and son in a truck died on the spot and 26 others were injured when the S2 train driven by Tuy smashed into six vehicles stuck in a traffic jam on the railway track on the Ghenh Bridge in Bien Hoa City near Ho Chi Minh City.

After investigation, the police concluded that Tuy had driven the train to cross the bridge although there was no signal light to allow him to do so.

Thuan, Thoi, Luong and Hai knew about the jam but failed to give the train a stop signal, the police said.

Meanwhile, Chau was accused of causing the jam since he did not reverse his car to make way for several other cars that travelled on the opposite direction on the bridge.

Chau’s act contributed to the accident, the worst railway accident ever in Bien Hoa, the police said.

VNN/VOV/VNS/Tuoi Tre