Outstanding Vietnamese win community awards

The San Francisco – Ho Chi Minh City Sister City Committee on Sunday conferred awards on nine outstanding Vietnamese citizens for their contributions to the community and humanitarian activities in Vietnam.

The lifetime achievement award in folk music was given to Prof. Tran Van Khe. Meanwhile, musician Pham Duy received the lifetime achievement award in Vietnamese music.

Other winners, Dang Thi Hoang Yen, Chairwoman of the Tan Tao Group and Prof. Doc. Nguyen Thi Kim Chuc, Deputy Head of the Family Medicine Department from the Hanoi Medical University won humanitarian awards for active participation in hepatitis B vaccination programs.

In the field of literature and art, the literary award was presented to writer Tran Thuy Mai, author of many works that were translated into English, Japanese and French languages and adapted for movies.

Doc. Pham Hung Van, lecturer from the HCM City University of Medicine and Pharmacy received molecular biology award and doctor Truong Thin, President of HCM City’s Oriental Medicine and Acupuncture Associations who combined traditional and modern medicine got the medical award.

Initiated in 2011, these awards aim to honour individuals working in the fields of hepatitis B prevention, biology, medicine, community healthcare, literature and art and those with innovations serving the community.

Three students drown in Phu Yen

Three male students drowned on Sunday in the mountainous district of Dong Xuan in the south central province of Phu Yen after rescuing three female friends from the Ba Phan Stream.

The female students fell into the stream while they were taking photos, according to district police.

US honour for French physicist

The American Institute of Physics has awarded the 2011 Tate Medal for International Leadership in Physics to Vietnamese French physicist Jean Tran Thanh Van.

Van was awarded the medal in recognition of his role spanning more than four decades in bringing the community of physicists across national and cultural borders and his tireless efforts to build a modern scientific community in Viet Nam, the citation for the medal read.

National viscera transplant center set up

A national coordinating center for viscera transplant will be established following a recent decision made by Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung.

The center, whose headquarters is located in Hanoi, will operate under the Health Ministry and will coordinate donations and transplant of human tissues and organs between tissue banks and health care establishments in the country.

Vietnam sees a high demand for tissue and organ transplant with about 5.000 to 6.000 people in need of kidney transplant and another 23.000 cases waiting for lever transplants.

In Hanoi, more than 1,500 are waiting for liver transplants while hundreds of others for cardiac transplants.

At present, Vietnamese doctors are able to perform kidney, liver, stem cell and cornea transplantation.

Enterprises sued for insurance evasion

The Social Insurance Office in the southern province of Dong Nai would sue 32 enterprises for backdated insurance fees of VND18 billion (US$860,000), said deputy director Pham Minh Thanh.

To date, 225 enterprises in the province are reported to owe social insurance of over VND40 billion ($1.9 million).

Australia helps Vietnamese cataract patients

As many as 5,500 patients across the country have been given cataract surgery and screening for refractive errors under a 45million AUD Avoidable Blindness Initiative funded by the Australian Government in the Asia-Pacific region.

Three hundred eye doctors and technicians have also been trained under the program.

The figures were released by the National Eye Hospital at a recent workshop on preventing blindness in Hanoi recently, which drew eye doctors and experts from Australia, Cambodia and Vietnam.

Illegal sand mining causes landslides

Illegal sand mining along the coast of Phu Quoc in the southern province of Kien Giang has caused a 710-m long landslide.

Head of the district's Economic Department Nguyen Minh Truc said that it had affected Duong Dong, An Thoi and Cuu Can Communes, and that a further 3,000m of coastline was at risk.

VNN/VOV/VNS/Tuoi Tre