Mekong Delta has first int’l gynaecology hospital

The Phuong Chau International Gynaecology Hospital, the first int’l standard hospital in the Mekong delta, was put into operation after two years of construction in Can Tho City on January 5.

Photo: Vietnam+
The 252-bed hospital was built over two years at a cost of around VND385 billion. The hospital now has six faculties equipped with modern US and European medical facilities.
Director of the hospital Dr Ho Thi Ngoc Ha said that the hospital aims to provide the best medical examination and treatment to women in the Mekong delta and become one of Vietnam’s leading specialised hospitals.

The Health Ministry said that the hospital is one of the country’s five largest private hospitals and the biggest and most modern gynaecology hospital in the Mekong delta. 

Stamp set welcomes the 11th National Party Congress

A stamp set to welcome the 11th National Congress of the Communist Party of Vietnam was delivered by the Ministry of Information and Communication in Hanoi on January 5. 

The stamp set was designed by painters Tran The Vinh and Vu Kim Lien with a model of stamps priced at VND2,000. 

It featured portraits of late President Ho Chi Minh in the Party banner, which reflected the official subject of the 11th National Congress of the Communist Party of Vietnam.  

The stamp model involves the feelings of all the Information and Communication sector’s staff to honour the party congress, Le Doan Hop, Information and Communication Minister said. 

He added through domestic and international postal network, the stamp set also affirmed the role of the Party which led the country to its historic victories.

Laos hands over remains of 89 Vietnamese soldiers to Nghe An

The Laotian Government officially organised a requiem and handed over the remains of 89 Vietnamese soldiers to Nghe An province, in Laos Xiengkuang province on January 5.

Present at the event were Laotian Deputy Minister of National Defense, Chansamon Channhalath, and thousands of people from Xiengkuang and Nghe An provinces.

Those remains were collected from remote mountainous areas by task forces from the Vientiane and Xiengkuang provinces in Laos in coordination with a team from Nghe An province.    

Of them, only 13 martyrs were identified by names and homeland. The remains will be brought to Vietnam for reburial service in Do Luong district, Nghe An province on January 6.

PM greenlights holiday extension

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has agreed to let officials and public employees at State offices and agencies take eight days off for the Tet holiday (Lunar New Year) that falls on February 3 this year.

Accordingly, the holiday starts on Monday, January 31 and ends on Monday, February 7th. In exchange, people have to go to work on their days-off, including the last Saturday and Sunday of this month.

The extra days off are only applicable at State companies and offices, where employees do not work on Saturday and Sunday.

The Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs said that the changes are reasonable and should ensure that employees have a smooth transition back into their working lives after the holiday concludes.

Nation to send more workers overseas: deputy minister

Viet Nam plans to export 87,000 workers in 2011, about 1,500 more than last year, said deputy minister of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs (MoLISA) Nguyen Thanh Hoa yesterday.

The ministry also aims to reduce the poverty rate to 7.4 per cent – 2 per cent less than in 2010, Hoa said.

In 2010, the ministry's plans to create new jobs, reduce poverty and send more workers abroad were all achieved. More than 1.6 million jobs were created while 9.6 million employees registered for social insurance. The ministry also successfully helped 50,000 people quit drugs.

However, Hoa said the creation of jobs still faced difficulties.

"Employees still have a hard time accessing recruitment information from employers. Conflicts on labours and illegal strikes are still occurring. There is also a shortage of skilled workers," he said.

At the meeting, Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Sinh Hung called on MoLISA to tackle job shortages and the low living standard of the poor. In 2011, the ministry should focus on reviewing its policies on social affairs, particularly relating to children, gender and those who contributed to the nation's war efforts, he said.

1,000th anniversary of capital encourages national spirit

The success of the 1,000th anniversary of Thang Long-Ha Noi helped to encourage the spirit of the whole nation and served as a platform to achieve greater successes, said Head of Ha Noi's Municipal Department of Popularisation and Education Ho Quang Lo.

No other event had ever mobilised such a huge effort from the people, or attracted so much attention from both in and outside of the country, he said at a meeting held yesterday to review the anniversary.

The anniversary was said to have been the country's largest event last year, and the most efficiently organised of the 35 big events held.

Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Sinh Hung said the anniversary's success bore a historical meaning and showed that problems such as traffic jams or the fireworks explosion could not stop the celebrations.

Hung, who acted as Head of the National Steering Committee for the anniversary, suggested that municipal authorities map out what needed to be done following the success of the anniversary to protect and uphold cultural values.

Director of the Foreign Ministry's Department of External Culture and UNESCO Pham Sanh Chau said the event had helped to popularise the image of the country as well as the capital.

Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Hoang Tuan Anh added that more than five million international tourists visited the country in 2010 and said it was partly thanks to the effects of the anniversary.

Man arrested for selling fake tickets

Guards at the Sai Gon Railway Station arrested Nguyen Van Thanh of District 3's Ward 10 for selling fake new year train tickets on Tuesday.

They discovered 19 fake tickets on his person. Previously, 33 other fake tickets had been seized from others for the Lunar New Year schedule.

Explosives workshop uncovered

Police in Thuy Nguyen District seized 50kg of explosives yesterday from Vu Trong Hoang, 31, of Minh Tan Commune.

Hoang said that Pham Van Thuong, 39, from the same commune, had manufactured the explosives at his workshop before hiring him to transport them to local quarries for sale.

District police also seized 40kg of fertiliser, 19kg of sawdust and other equipment used in the manufacture of explosives.

The case is being investigated.

Over 11,000 coach tickets handed out

 The HCM City Export Processing and Industrial Zones' Authority will donate 5,000 coach tickets to disadvantaged workers in the central and northern regions for Tet (Lunar New Year).

Groups of enterprises in HCM City will also hire coaches to help 6,000 workers from industrial zones return home for the festival.

Six centres lose working licences

The Ministry of Science and Technology revoked the working licences for scientific and technological activities at six centres on Monday.

The Institute of Science and Technological Development of Geology - Foundation - Construction and the centres for Technology Development and Environmental Protection, Printing Technology Research and Applications, Economics and Community Development, Technology Co-operation, and Corrosion and Protection Research were all dissolved for operating inefficiently.

ATM camera robber arrested

Vu Van Hung, 34, of Phu Nhuan District was arrested on Tuesday by Sai Gon Commercial Bank (SCB) guards for stealing a security camera.

Hung allegedly admitted that he had stolen two of the bank's cameras but hadn't tried to break into the ATM.

SCB had lost billions of dong in the past to ATM robberies.

VNN/VOV/VNS