Treatment for inborn heart disease begins

A project on promptly discovering and treating children with congenital heart disease, the first of its kind in Vietnam, was signed in the central province of Thanh Hoa on June 29.

Signatories were representatives from the provincial Department of Health and the East Meets West Foundation.

The 2.6 billion VND project will be carried out from now until March, 2014 in Dong Son and Cam Thuy districts. It aims to enhance the capacity of healthcare stations throughout the province, including building a key contingent of qualified cardiovascular doctors and providing adequate medical equipment to offer the best healthcare services.

In addition, the project will also hold a campaign targeting households with children below 6 years old and pregnant women to raise their awareness of inborn heart disease. Any query regarding this kind of disease will be cleared up through a telephone hot line, soon to be inaugurated.

According to the latest statistics in Thanh Hoa, nearly 10,000 babies with heart disease are yet to be discovered. On top of this, it is thought that over 400 babies are born with the disease every year.

However, only 40 percent of children with heart defects were discovered and got medical treatment at central and local hospitals.

The project will also help ease loads at central and local hospitals, easing the economic and social burden caused by late diagnosis and treatment.

Four state auditors sentenced for pocketing $35,500

The Quang Ngai Province People’s Court has sentenced 4 state auditors to 3-10 years in prison for appropriating US$35,500 from contractors of projects using government bond capital.

The sentences were announced yesterday, the second day of trial, when the jury suddenly converted the defendants’ charges from “taking bribes” to “abusing position and power to appropriate assets”.

The jury said that after re-considering the nature of the case, they decided to change the charges since the contractors had actively given the money to the former auditors.

With the charges converted, Nguyen Van Quyen, 38, received 10 years imprisonment while his three accomplices, Ngo Quang Dang, 36, Ngo Hong Minh, 30, and Nguyen Quang Thanh, 42, were sentenced to 8, 7 and 3 years in prison respectively. All of the four defendants are from Hanoi.

If the charges had been kept unchanged, the defendant would have faced higher penalties ranging from 7-8 years to 16-17 years imprisonment.  

In July 2010, the four men were assigned to audit construction projects funded by the government bond capital in Quang Ngai in 2006-2009. They discovered wrongdoings by contractors in relation to expenses for the projects.

Quyen, head of the audit team, suggested that the infringing contractors give them VND680 million ($35,500) in exchange for ignoring the wrongdoings.

The contractors reported the case to police.

On August 14, 2010, when the auditors were receiving the money from the contractors in a room at Hung Vuong hotel in the province, police rushed in.

In response to the court’s conversion of charges, the provincial People’s Procuracy told VTC News yesterday that the agency would hold a meeting to discuss whether it will protest against the verdict or not.

Potholes mar stretch of National Highway 1A

For more than a month now, massive potholes have scarred the National Highway 1A stretch from 621 Junction in Thu Duc District in HCM City to the Dong Nai Bridge, a traffic management official said.

Le Ngoc Hung, deputy general director of the Urban Area Traffic Management No 2, said they had been caused by giant trucks.
The road, especially the stretch near the Tan Van T-junction, had sunk by 5-10cm, he said, causing potholes stretching tens of metres.

The Dong Nai Material and Building Investment JSC, which is responsible for the maintenance of the highway, said it had instructed the Construction Corporation No 1 to repair it this month.

Dong Nai supports poor farm households

The Dong Nai Province People's Committee has launched a programme to support 5,000 poor households in rural, remote and ethnic minority areas to improve agricultural production from now until 2015.

The programme, which is estimated to cost about VND15 billion (US$710,000), will help households grow rice, corn and sugarcane and/or rear chickens, goats and cows.

Each household will be given VND1.5-9 million to boost production and instructed in advanced farming techniques.

Beneficiary households will be those targeted by the provincial poverty alleviation programme and have conditions to engage in agriculture production but lack knowledge, experience and access to advanced farming techniques.

The southeastern province has a target of reducing the number of poor households by 1.5 per cent every year.

Former city leaders jailed for illegal land allocation

The Vinh Phuc Province People’s Court on Friday sentenced two former chairmen of Vinh Yen City People’s Committee to 5 years in prison each for wrongdoings related to the illegal use of farmland causing a loss of US$1.44 million to the State budget.

They are Nguyen Vinh Quyen, 54, and Lai Huu Lan, 63, who were both charged with “abusing position and power”.

Another former official, Nguyen Van Hoa, 65, former deputy chairman of Vinh Phuc Province People’s Committee, was given a reprimand for “being irresponsible and causing serious consequences.”

The instigator of the case is Nguyen Huu Quan, a 42-year-old businessman in Hanoi’s Tay Ho District. Quan fled from Vietnam in 2011 and had been wanted internationally until he was arrested by US police at Dulles international airport in Washington D.C. on February 23, 2012.

The former city head Quyen ordered his subordinates to forge Hoa’s signature in a document to revoke 25 hectares of farmland in Dong Tam Commune in 2009. The land was later illegally handed to Quan and Duong Dinh Tam, a businessman, to develop an urban project in their own interests.

The land withdrawal and the use of the farming land for the urban project were against the Law on Land and other relevant regulations, causing a total loss of VND30 billion ($1.44 million) to the State budget, the court said.

In return for the help from these State officials, Quan and Tam gave kickbacks to them. For example, Quan gave Lan a Toyota Camry car worth VND1.1 billion ($52,800).

Six other defendants in the case also received sentences from 30 months to 2 years. They are Nguyen Xuan Truong, 57, former deputy chairman of the city’s Dong Tam Ward; Nguyen Thi Kim Lien, 54, former director of the city Department of Natural Resources and Environment; Nguyen Thi Ngoc, 41, former director of the Department of Finance and Planning; Nguyen Xuan Lien, 51, former deputy chairman of the province’s Tam Dao District People’s Committee; Vu Van Chuc, 46, an officer at the Department of Natural Resources and Environment; and Duong Dinh Tam, 42.

USAID launches campaign on safe sex in Vietnam

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) in Vietnam has just launched a campaign to raise people’s awareness on safe sex by using condoms.

Titled “Song Hien Dai Khong Ngai Bao Cao Su” (Modern People Ain’t Afraid of Condoms), the campaign will consist of art performances, seminars with young people and experts as well as activities to promote knowledge on safe sex on social networks.

Famous young names such as Miss Vietnam 2006 Mai Phuong Thuy and pop singer Hoang Thuy Linh will also attend the campaign by holding friendly meetings with youths to talk and share about safe sex, especially the use of condoms which has been a sensitive topic in the country.

A 2-minute film calling on people to remove the social stigma attached with people using condoms will be screened on USAID Vietnam’s official website.

“In Vietnam, condom is a sensitive issue. Though we can talk more openly about this topic, people still have a critical look on those who buy, use or bring condoms along. I hope the criticism will soon be erased.” Mai Phuong Thuy who has been appointed the campaign’s ambassador stated.

“Song Hien Dai Khong Ngai Bao Cao Su” is part of the agency’s project to prevent HIV for people aged from 18 to 32 in 8 provinces and cities including Hanoi, Hai Phong, Quang Ninh, Lao Cai, Nghe An, Ho Chi Minh City, An Giang and Can Tho.

Sailors rescued by Chinese fishing vessel

All 14 sailors on board a Vietnamese cargo ship which sank near the port of Hainan, China, had been rescued and brought to shore by a Chinese fishing vessel, said the Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Saturday.

The sailors were in good health, according to the ministry.

Cargo ship Nam Long 01-9570503 sank on June 20 near Dongfang off the coast Hainan due to electrical failure and bad weather, while travelling from My Tho in Viet Nam's southern province of Tien Giang to Dongfang.

Relevant Vietnamese agencies are working with concerned Chinese agencies to complete procedures to help the crew return as soon as possible.

Blood donation campaign proves successful

More than 23,000 units of blood have been donated since the Red Spring festival was launched in 2008.

The information was released by the National Institute of Hematology and Blood Transfusion at a June 30 conference to review five years of the campaign in Hanoi.

The 2012 drive set a new record of 7,684 units of blood collected in one day.

Over the past five years, the event has become an important campaign for compassionate, kind-hearted people. A number of blood donation models have been developed, which has contributed significantly to the campaign in Vietnam.

Addressing the conference, Minister of Health Nguyen Thi Kim Tien said the campaign has upheld the tradition of social generousity in the community.

She said she hopes that the Institute will continue developing the campaign to bring it closer to every citizen.

On the occasion, Vice President Nguyen Thi Doan granted the Labour Hero title to Director of the National Institute of Hematology and Blood Transfusion Professor Nguyen Anh Tri in recognition of his contributions to the campaign.

46 foreign students sit tertiary entrance exams

Forty-six foreign students on July 1 did a compulsory test on the Vietnamese language before they will sit tertiary entrance exams at Ho Chi Minh City University of Social Sciences and Humanities.

They were assessed over three major skills: listening, writing and speaking.

Of the total, 42 candidates will take exams on Vietnamese studies and the remainder on the English language.

Forty candidates come from the Republic of Korea, five from Turkmenistan and one from Japan.

The Vietnamese language is compulsory for any foreign students wishing to study at the university.

Tertiary entrance exams begin at all exam councils across the country in early July.

Sailors rescued by Chinese fishing vessel

All 14 sailors on board of a Vietnamese cargo ship, which sank near a port of Hainan, China, have been rescued and brought onshore by a Chinese fishing vessel, said the Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The sailors’ health is in good condition, according to the ministry.

Cargo ship Nam Long 01-9570503 sank on June 20 near Dongfang city, Hainan of China, due to electricity problem and bad weather, while travelling en route from My Tho, Vietnam’s southern province of Tien Giang to Dongfeng port.

Relevant Vietnamese agencies are working with concerned Chinese agencies to complete procedures to help the crew return to the country at earliest time.

Vietnamese online for over 2 hours a day: survey

A survey of 5,800 Vietnamese people shows the average time spent by these people using the Internet everyday last year is 130 minutes, says a research organization.

The survey’s result was released by Cimigo, an independent team of marketing and brand research specialists, at the “Vietnam Mobile Advertising 2012” seminar held in Ho Chi Minh City on Friday.

About 95 percent of Internet users in those localities are between the ages of 15 and 24, said Le-Usami Vann, online research director of the organization, which is headquartered in HCMC’s Binh Thanh District.

The higher the age of Internet users, the less they use the network, Vann said.

Of the people surveyed, 93 percent says they use the Internet to read news and search information, while 74 percent say they usually seek for information about new products and brands from the Internet.

Vietnam is one of the most wired countries in the world, with 31 million, or about 35 percent of the country’s population, having used the Internet by May 2012. The internet began to appear in the country in 1997, according to Vietnam Internet Network Information Center (VNNIC).

As of last month, the total number of broadband subscribers has reached more than 4,365,000 and the number of registered Vietnamese domain names has amounted to 766,700.

VNN/VOV/VNS/Tuoi Tre