More overpasses proposed in Ha Noi

The Ha Noi Transport Department has submitted a proposal to the municipal People's Committee to build three new flyovers in the capital this year to ease traffic congestion.

The flyovers will be built at the intersections of Chua Boc and Pham Ngoc Thach, Dai Co Viet and Tran Khat Chan, and Bach Mai and Le Thanh Nghi streets.

Two flyovers are currently under construction at the intersections of Lang Ha and Thai Ha, and Chua Boc and Thai Ha streets. They are expected to be open to traffic by the end of this month.

96 inmates escape rehab center in northern city

Ninety-six out of 200 male drug addicts at a rehabilitation center in the northern city of Hai Phong subdued security forces and absconded on Sunday, a center official said.

Vu Xuan Thai, director of the center in Hai An District, said the inmates broke through the center’s gate after dinner, using kitchen knives as weapons against the security guards.

The breakout followed the incitation of a group of addicts who had been put to work in the kitchen, Thai added.

Six of the escapees voluntarily returned to the rehab center on Monday afternoon.

The families of the rest have been asked to encourage them to return.

This was not the first time drug addicts at the center had escaped, as a group of them had once managed to escape by digging under the center walls.

Two years ago, over 500 fled a reintegration facility in Tien Lang District of the same city.

About forty had earlier broken out of another center in Thuy Nguyen District.

Meat samples show banned substances

Three samples of meat and animal feed from the northern provinces of Hoa Binh, Bac Ninh and Hai Duong have tested positive for "lean-meat powder", according to the Department of Livestock Husbandry on Monday.

The drug, officially known as Clenbuterol, accelerates fat burning and muscle growth, but overdoses can cause illness and, in rare cases, death.

The samples were among 136 taken from 15 coastal and northern provinces for inspection.

Hundreds of companies restrain workers’ salary rates

About 160 businesses in industrial parks and export processing zones in Ho Chi Minh City have not increased the salary for workers despite their seniority, and apply the same salary rates for both newcomers and veterans.

As shown in the results of the inspection of more than 1,000 businesses in the parks and zones, only 600 have registered their wage frames with the agency in charge, and of these 600 businesses, 160 have violated regulations related to wage issues, said the HCM City  Industrial Parks and Export Processing Zones Authority (HEPZA).

In the first two months of this year, five wage-related disputes between workers and their employers have occurred in those companies, said Nguyen Tan Dinh, HEPZA deputy head.
One of the causes was that those companies had not paid their workers in accordance with the registered wage frames.

Another cause, and a more common one, was that the employers applied the same salary rates to both new workers and old hands. That means workers with many years of experience received the same salary as those who were just recruited.

For example, a company has registered its wage frame including 10 levels, according to which salaries ranged between VND2,140,000 to VND3,324,000 (US$102.70-160) per month. However, the company paid all workers with 1-year contracts at the lowest rate and did not give a pay rise to any workers, including those who have worked for it for a long time.

Ho Xuan Lam, head of HEPZA’s labor management division, said that those companies applied the lowest salary rate so that they could pay a low amount of social insurance for workers.

At a number of companies, when workers objected to such a manner, their employers paid an experience allowance to senior staff members but did not give them a pay rise, Lam said.
The fact that the salaries were maintained at unreasonably low rates will hurt the workers when they resign or retire, while the employer will benefit from reduced payments of social insurance, Lam said.

Such an illegitimate practice has discouraged many skilled workers and many of them might seek a new job, he added.

Meanwhile the fine for companies that fail to set up a wage frame is just VND2-10 million ($96.5-482), a rate that is so low that it does not discourage violators.

Moreover, there are no regulations on imposing fines on companies that do not give their workers a pay raise based on seniority. Therefore, many companies have deliberately restrained salary rates for a long time, causing loss to workers, he warned.

Luxembourg project equips blood centres

Nearly 240 hospitals supported by five regional blood transfusion centres have been equipped with blood cold chain equipment thanks to official development assistance from the Government of Luxembourg.

The US$4.5 million project covers five regional blood transfusion centres accessible by roughly 31 million of the country's total population of 86 million.

The Ministry of Health said, the project had improved the management and provision of blood storage capacity at district and provincial hospitals, and contributed to management and operation of the blood cold chain with special emphasis on adequacy, cost effectiveness and quality.

Australian veteran hands over Vietnamese soldier’s diary

A Vietnam War veteran from Australia who preserved a notebook and a scarf from a Vietnamese soldier for 40 years has handed them over to the fallen soldier’s relatives.

On April 3, Laurens Wildeboer sent these items to the elderly mother of the dead soldier, who was known as Phan Van Ban and also Phan Van Nhon.

Wildeboer became very emotional as he apologized to the soldier’s 85 year old mother, Nguyen Thi Hieu, for what he did in the past.

The former Australian serviceman also praised Ban and other Vietnamese soldiers for their bravery and what they did for their fatherland.

Meanwhile, Hieu said in tears that she was very moved that even though the war ended decades ago, Wildeboer still kept her son’s mementos, which will remind her of the beloved son.

After their meeting, Wildeboer and his friends from Australia lit incense to commemorate revolutionary martyr Phan Van Ban.

Lauren Wildeboer fought in the Vietnam War and kept many mementos of Vietnamese soldiers who had laid down their lives on the battle field.

He got the diary of a soldier named Ban during a battle in 1970 and wanted to send it back to the soldier’s family.

After four decades, Wildeboer’s search efforts finally paid off and the owner of the diary was identified in January 2012 as Phan Van Ban from Long Thanh district in Dong Nai province.

ORBIS flying hospital back to Danang

The ORBIS flying eye hospital landed at Danang Airport on April 3, beginning a three-week program in Vietnam.

This is the fourth time ORBIS, the only model in the world for eye operations and ophthalmologic training, has arrived in Vietnam to treat patients with eye diseases and help raise the capacity and skills of local optical doctors.

Under the program, the ORBIS experts will train 36 doctors from the Danang and Hue Eye Hospitals, as well as 150 doctors, technicians and medical workers from other eye clinics across the country and from Laos and Cambodia.

Twenty four of the world’s leading ophthalmologists will hold classes, give lectures and discuss professional issues with local doctors and nurses, through online surgeries and meetings inside the operating rooms on the flying hospital.

Nguyen Thi Thanh Huong, Chief representative of ORBIS in Vietnam, said that this current program hopes to examine and treat about 250 visually impaired patients.

Surgeries will also be performed immediately on 83 patients with serious conditions, Huong said, adding that the total cost for the ORBIS program in Danang this time is about US$200,000.

VNN/VOV/VNS/Tuoi Tre