Three people get burns in explosion at bus station in Can Tho City

Three people got burns and panic-stricken hundreds of passengers rushed out of Phuong Trang bus station in Hung Vuong Street, Ninh Kieu District of the Mekong delta City of Can Tho on February 28 when an explosion occurred.

La Ngoc Phu, Phuong Trang Company’s director, said the company’s camera recorded two passengers, a man and a woman, stepped into the waiting room with a bag.

Suddenly, a blast took place causing burns to three people including two passengers and a friend of theirs.

Three victims are Duong Thi Thuy Trang, 19; La Hoang Sang, 28, both are Ho Chi Minh City natives and Tran Van Thanh, 28 linving in Ninh Kieu District. They were rushed to the Can Tho General Hospital for treatment.

On the day, senior lieutenant-colonel Vo Van Thang said La Hoang Sang confessed to bring one kilogram of KCL03, one kilogram of active coal, half a kilogram of sulphur and a tube of iron glue in his bag. As he read the formula to make blast, he bought these chemicals to make it due to his curiosity.

However, it erupted in fire while he was waiting in the bus station.

Police were quick to block the station for further investigation.

Rare wood found under river near Phong Nha-Ke Bang national park

Fishermen in Quang Binh Province found rare sua wood, worth tens of billions of VND, being kept under a river around the Phong Nha-Ke Bang Natural World Heritage Site.

Fisherman Nguyen Van Lam and his wife, from Na Hamlet in Son Trach Commune, found the wood while fishing on the Son River on February 28.

Lam said, “While I was fishing my nets became very heavy. I decided to dive down and see what was stuck and found several sua tree trunks. I yelled out because I was so excited, attracting the attention of people around who scrambled to take the wood."

Lam and several other local people found a total of 12 trunks of sua, scientific name dalbergia tonkinensis prain, each worth about VND2 billion. Each trunk was two metres long and as much as 20 centimetres thick.

After hearing about the incident, the head of the park and the local forest rangers came to inspect, but by that time the entire crowd had dispersed along with the valuable wood.

On the same day, leaders from Bo Trach District together with provincial forest rangers and local police began a joint investigation in order to track down the source of the wood.

Can Tho Province in urgent need of doctors

In a recent conference with the People’s Committee of the Mekong Delta province of Can Tho and Can Tho Province Party Committee, the Department of Health of Can Tho Province reported that it planned to increase around 205 beds in many hospitals along with hiring 246 new doctors but had not received enough fund to begin the task.

Since 1995, Can Tho Tuberculosis and Lung Hospital has not been able to recruit new doctors even though at the moment it has only 80 beds with 12 doctors. Other hospitals such as the Children Hospital or the Mental Hospital are now under the same pressure.

To ease the situation, the Can Tho Province Department of Health is filing for the right to recruit more personnel. It has also posted job openings for 327 officials to be ready for the new Can Tho General Hospital with more than 500 beds and the new Hospital of Obstetrics and Gynecology with 250 beds.

The Department of Health is asking related authorities to amend current hiring regulations so that fresh doctors are able to work right away while giving extra bonus as incentives for doctors working in tuberculosis and lung hospitals, mental hospitals, and forensic experts.

Ministry seeks funds to support all-daughter families

The Ministry of Health is seeking the Prime Minister’s approval to spend VND3 trillion (USD144 million) to support families who have only daughters in order to alleviate the gender imbalance during the 2013-2020 period.

Duong Quoc Trong, Head of the General Department of Population and Family Planning, said they will give cash assistance, reduce tuition fees and other social priorities to girls from these families.

"I know this is a large figure, but it's nothing compared to the gender crisis we would encounter," he said.

Meanwhile, Dao Van Dung, Head of Social Issues Committee said, "The implementation of this policy should be weighed carefully. The preference for sons is deeply rooted in our culture, so this policy may have adverse effect, even further reducing the status of daughters. Or, on the other hand, it could be too effective and we could have a gender imbalance in the opposite direction."

However, according to Trong, many provinces have already started taking measures to help the situation by awareness campaigns about the problems gender imbalance may lead to.

Provinces such as Vinh Phuc, Phu Tho and Nam Dinh have policies that reward girls from all-daughter families who make significant achievements or do well in school.

Trong said it would take a long time to raise awareness on the matter and that in the meantime, more immediate steps must be taken.

If the problem is not addressed now, Vietnam will have 2.3-4.3 million single men in the next 20-30 years. Other countries, such as China and India, have had to deal with the effects of gender imbalance, where millions of men are unable to marry.

Siemens donates equipment to hospital

Siemens Vietnam on February 20 donated a 400,000 USD syngo.phaza Picture Archiving and Communication System (PACS) solution to Cho Ray Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City.

Dr. Bern Montage, CEO of Imaging and Therapy Systems at Siemens AG said the company understands very well the challenges facing Vietnamese hospitals, and thus hopes that the donated PACS system will support the hospital to optimise its workflow and improve performance significantly.

This health care IT solution, composed of hardware and software components plus professional services, will help improve the imaging diagnostic workflows within the hospital.

As a result, it would offer mutual benefits for both the hospital and for more than a million patients that need medical exams and imaging diagnostics each year.

It will also help to reduce costs in diagnosis and treatment planning by better optimising the utilisation of existing hospital resources and avoiding some “non value adding” process steps.

Moreover, this hi-tech system will help save time and reduce stress for medical staff, which ultimately results in higher patient throughput and improved performance.

Cho Ray Hospital is a Special Hospital of the Ministry of Health with 66 clinical departments that provide health care services to 22 provinces in central, southern and the Highland provinces.

In 2012, more than 1 million patients had medical exams at the hospital.

VN makes progress in combating HIV epidemic, says new study

A new study entitled “Outcomes of Antiretroviral Therapy in Viet Nam: Results from a National Evaluation” shows that Viet Nam’s large scale up of HIV services is helping to combat the country’s HIV epidemic.

Since 2005, the United States has worked with Viet Nam to help significantly expand its national antiretroviral therapy program to ensure those infected with HIV are linked to lifesaving care and treatment services.

Supported by the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the study evaluated the treatment outcomes of 6,875 patients on antiretroviral treatment from 2005 to 2010. Recently published by the online journal PLOS ONE, the study focuses on Viet Nam’s HIV-infected population, including most-at-risk groups such as injecting drug users – the key drivers of the HIV epidemic in Viet Nam.

“The study shows generally good responses to antiretroviral therapy and high retention rates among those on treatment,” said Dr. Michelle McConnell, CDC Viet Nam’s Country Director. “This means clients on antiretroviral therapy can go on to lead healthy and productive lives. From a public health perspective, these findings are also important for prevention of HIV, as once on treatment, people infected with HIV are less likely to pass the virus on to others in their community.”

“The results reflect the robust partnership between the United States and Viet Nam in implementing a national HIV program that addresses the clients’ needs, and show that Viet Nam’s Ministry of Health is committed to a strong and sustainable HIV healthcare strategy,” she added.

“The findings from this evaluation are very useful in improving Viet Nam’s national antiretroviral therapy program,” said Dr. Nhan Thi Do, Head of the Care and Treatment Department at the Viet Nam Administration of AIDS Control. “Now we can identify any shortcomings and develop appropriate solutions and strategies to ensure a better program in the future.”

Through PEPFAR and CDC, the United States continues to provide funding and technical support to Vietnam to bolster its national HIV program.  In 2013 a new outcome evaluation will be carried out to assess the effectiveness of recently adopted guidelines, such as increasing the CD4 threshold that qualify a patient for treatment and improved antiretroviral regimens.