Blood bank to go online

The Viet Nam Red Cross (VNRC) will establish an e-blood bank later this year in an effort to ease the nation's blood shortage, said director of the VBRC's Humanitarian Blood Donation Department Nguyen Duc Thuan.

The bank is an on-line data system that links blood donors, or whoever willing to donate blood if requested, with an electronic portal accessible by donors over the internet or mobile devices.

"Patients would access the e-bank and get contact to e-bank representatives from their home provinces and cities for support. The representative would provide them with nearest blood donors and help them connect to blood donors, even at night," said Thuan.

"Many patients don't know where or who to contact when they need blood in emergency cases, especially when hospitals run out of blood," said Thuan.

"The model of e-blood bank has been implemented with good outcomes in other countries," added Thuan.

Thuan said that the e-bank will be experimentally operated from the beginning of May in Ha Noi and HCM City and officially launched by the end of November. The VNRC will also promote the bank's information at 100 blood transfusion units at hospitals and medical units nation-wide.

VNRC plans to increase the number of blood donors from the current 6,000 to 15,000 by the end of this year and 80,000 by 2015.

The e-bank is expected to provide 37,500 blood units in 2012, and 160,000 units in 2015, according to Thuan.

The Ministry of Health statistics say that Viet Nam currently has met nearly 40 per cent of people's blood transfusion demand in hospitals and medical units nation-wide.

Last year, the country collected over 675,000 blood units, 84.2 per cent coming from volunteers. However, only about 0.78 per cent of Vietnamese have ever donated blood.

Honour for CEO of Thakral Corporation

Rikhi Singh Thakral, the Chief Executive Officer of the Thakral Corporation of Singapore was awarded Friendship Medal by Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan, Head of the Ministry of Labour - Invalids and Social Affairs yesterday.

Thakral was honoured for his contributions in humanitarian activities in Viet Nam, which helped promote the relationship between Viet Nam and Singapore.

Thakral began his humanitarian works for underprivileged children in Vietnam in 2000.

By 2010, the total amount financed by his corporation for humanitarian activities has amounted to over VND3 billion.

The corporation promised to finance at least USD42,000 each year for underprivileged children in Vietnam until 2014.

“One heart, one world” programme scheduled for April 9

The 8th “One Heart, One World” programme will take place at the Friendship Palace in Hanoi on April 9.

The event will be broadcast live on VTV1 and VTV6 to honour outstanding disabled people and orphans as well as benefactors who have helped disadvantaged people to overcome difficulties to continue their lives.

Nguyen Dinh Lieu, President of the Association in Support of Vietnamese Handicapped and Orphans (ASVHO), said that the association has organized many activities to help people with disabilities and orphans integrate into the local community and improve their lives.

Of the nearly VND118 billion collected from domestic and foreign individuals and organsiations in 2010, the association has spent VND115 billion to help more than 235,000 handicapped people and orphans across the country.

The 7^th “One Heart, One World” programme raised more than VND10 billion.

Strengthening protection of migrant workers in ASEAN

A conference was held in Phnom Penh, Cambodia on April 4 to discuss measures to increase partnership among members of the Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in protecting and promoting the rights of migrant workers.

The three-day meeting focused on the role of members of parliament in the issue.

Addressing the opening ceremony, Cambodian National Assembly Chairman Heng Samrin said migration for job seeking is posing great challenges to both families and society, including the trafficking and exploitation of women and children.

The challenges not only threaten the life of the victims, but also cause difficulties to their families and society as a whole, he said.

Therefore, the most important issue is to seek appropriate method and measures to protect these people, not to prevent the flow of migrant workers.

The ASEAN Declaration on the Protection and Promotion of the Rights of Migrant Workers was passed in 2007. The region now has nearly 600 million people, accounting for 8.8 percent of the world’s population, and a 263 million strong workforce.

HIV testing reference centre available in Hanoi

The Hanoi-based Central Hospital for Tropical Diseases has recently inaugurated a reference centre for laboratory HIV testing with the aim of bettering the treatment for the people living with HIV/AIDS.

The centre is equipped with the FACSCount flow cytometer manufactured by the Becton Dickinson. As a reliable choice for clinical cellular analysis in laboratories, it is a dedicated system with the ability to provide CD4+, CD8+, and CD3+ T lymphocytes counts automatically.

The centre also has the FACS Canto II 6 that offers applications in a wide range of fields and plans to put into use the Vacutainer blood collection system, which is designed to protect lab personnel from contact with blood taken from HIV/AIDS patients.

The HIV reference centre was to study the application of Flow Cytometry technique, especially for contagious diseases, and provide training on the field for lab staff nationwide to help further improve medical treatments.

Three boys die after falling into sand pit

Three little boys died after falling into a flooded sand pit while playing on Sunday in Can Tho City's Thot Not District.

The bodies of the victims, aged eight and nine, were retrieved and identified.

An investigation by local police is ongoing.

Three enterprises fined for piracy

Three enterprises in HCM City were fined a total of more than VND1 billion ($48,007) for violating the brand ownership right under a decision signed by the municipal People's Committee.

The three enterprises - Viet International Ltd, Quang Minh Food Processing Ltd and Tan Quang Minh Ltd had produced and processed the energy drink "Carabao and picture," a brand owned by Carabao Tawangdang Co, Ltd from Thailand.

Viet International Ltd. and Quang Minh Ltd. were fined VND500 million ($24,003) each and Tan Quang Minh VND48 million ($2,295).

Women traffickers arrested

Three local men who allegedly trafficked women across the border into China were arrested by the northern mountainous Lao Cai Border Guards in Phong Tho District and handed over to the provincial police last week.

The ring was uncovered when one of the men was caught taking a Vietnamese women across the border. The men, aged between 15 and 36, confessed to selling another two women across the border.

An investigation into the human trafficking ring is ongoing.

Vinamilk assists over VND2 billion to Japanese victims

Vietnam Dairy Products Joint Stock Company (VINAMILK) on April 4 handed over to the Consulate General of Japan in Ho Chi Minh City VND2.1 billion raised by its more than 4,000 staff for Japanese victims of the recent quake and tsunami.

Nguyen Thanh Tu, Chairman of Vinamilk’s Trade Union, said the support shows the company’s responsibility towards the world community.

* Also, on April 4 the Red Cross of Dak Lak province donated VND2 billion to help Japanese victims overcome difficulties.

Of this sum, VND1 billion came from Dak Lak Rubber Company and VND100 million from the public security department.

* A gala music, themed “Sunrise”, will be held by the Students’ Cultural House on Thien Quang Lake in Hanoi on April 5.

Joining the event organised by the Nhacvietplus website are famous singers such as Khanh Linh, Quang Ha, Dinh Manh Ninh and Rockband Sand.

All money collected from selling tickets at VND100,000 per person will be sent to the Japanese embassy.

Besides, articles sent by artists to the event will be auctioned at www.mattroimoc.info.

Erasmus Mundus scholarship

A delegation of the European Commission to Vietnam will announce the granting of Erasmus Mundus scholarships in Hanoi on April 7.

The aim is to promote exchanges between universities.

Since 2004, 482 Erasmus Mundus scholarships have been given to Vietnamese students.

Each receiver can make a choice to study in one of the two European universities, which are involved in the Erasmus Mundus programme.

VNN/VOV/VNS