Speed signs removed from national roads

The Viet Nam Road Administration announced yesterday that it had removed all road signs limiting speed to under 40kmph on national highways.

This was achieved within 20 days of receiving the instruction from Transport Minister Dinh La Thang.

The minister ordered the replacement of 25kmph, 30kmph and 35kmph speed-limit signs to speed up the flow of traffic.

The Road Administration has asked transport departments to also change the speed-limit signs on provincial highways.

Nearly 170 youth return home for summer camp 2014

An estimated 170 Overseas Vietnamese (OV) youth are returning to the homeland for Summer Camp 2014, raising the awareness of the country’s sea and island sovereignty.

This year’s summer camp, themed “My Homeland’s Sea and Islands”, are taking from July 8 to 27 at many locations throughout the nation, packed with a wide range of activities.

The information was released by Dang The Hung, Vice Chairman of the State Committee for Overseas Vietnamese Affairs (COVA) in Hanoi on July 3.

Hung said the annual event aims to help young overseas Vietnamese people fully and deeply understanding the national sovereignty over sea and islands, patriotic tradition, culture and solidarity among 54 ethnic groups, raising their pride and attachment to the homeland.

During the camp, they will visit President Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum, and Van Mieu – Vietnam’s first Temple of Literature in Hanoi, and historical and cultural relics in Quang Ninh, Hue, Danang, and Da Lat,  as well as exchanging with youth in Quang Ninh and Quang Ngai provinces.

The opening ceremony will be held in Quang Ninh on July 11.

Young returnees will also have a chance to meet with law enforcement forces at sea, fishermen and Danang youth to inquire about their efforts to defend national sovereignty.

Hung revealed that OV youth prepared a special gift for law enforcement forces and fishermen.

The annual camp has been held since 2003 by the COVA under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

OVs in Odessa support homeland’s islanders

The Overseas Vietnamese (OVs) community in Odessa, Ukraine, has launched a campaign “for homeland’s sea and islands” to raise funds in support of Vietnam’s law enforcement forces at sea and fishermen.

Most OVs living in Odessa reside in a building referred to as “Lotus Village” and do business at the key Odessa market – kilometre 7, where they gather and reminisce about the homeland.

Nguyen Van Voc, head of a business group in Kva 2, said that the OVs community is filled to the brim with patriotism for the nation and for those defending its sovereignty.  

As a result, in the first two days of the campaign, more than US$3,000 has been raised, he said.

A large number of OVs are students studying in Odessa and are actively involved in communal activities.

Hoang Dinh Nam, a fourth year student at the Odessa Maritime Academy, donated a portion of his scholarship to support the campaign, saying he desires to do something to assist islanders at home.

Nguyen Nhu Manh, President of the OVs Association in Odessa, said the association will continue to encourage OVs to join the campaign.

The OVs community in Odessa has conducted a wide range of activities in support of the homeland in the past. Three years ago, they donated more than US$3,200 to soldiers garrisoned on Truong Sa (Spartly) islands.

Last year, as part of the Vietnam Day in Odessa, the communal art troupe gave an art performance, affirming Vietnam’s sovereignty over Truong Sa (Spartly) and Hoang Sa (Parecel) islands.

Teachers at Vietnamese language class also introduce homeland’s sea and islands to second and third generations who were born and grew up in Odessa.

These activities instill national patriotism and pride in OVs and help Ukraine and international friends better understand and support Vietnam.

Returning workers need policy support

There is no policy yet to support workers returning from overseas in finding suitable jobs and taking advantage of their incomes gained overseas, say officials and experts.

Dao Cong Hai, Deputy Director of the Department of Overseas Labour (DOLAB), said at a recent workshop that 50 out of 63 cities and provinces have no records of the number of workers who returned from overseas, implying on the urgent need for such a database.

Trinh Thu Nga, from the Institute of Labour Science and Social Affairs (ILSSA), said the involvement of State management agencies, local authorities and social organisations in supporting returning workers to reintegrate into the community and the labour market was still limited and weak.

Quoting a recent survey, Nga stressed that a majority of these workers struggled to reintegrate into the labour market because of the lack of information and employment services, as well as financial difficulties.

She added that these workers wanted support to either return to work overseas or to find a suitable job at home, or be self-employed.

She said that more than 80 per cent of the workers said they had managed to find a job soon after their return, but only around 9 per cent said they found a job relevant to their work overseas.

Nga explained that a similar job might not be available in Viet Nam, and if it was, it was done with different equipment and technologies.

Pham Minh Duc from the Center of Overseas Labour said that many workers did not want to return home upon the expiry of their labour contracts and tried to overstay and reside illegally overseas.

He added that one challenge for workers was their demand for higher salaries than those being earned by domestic workers in the same profession.

Nga said most of the workers (90 to 95 per cent) returned home with higher professsional discipline, better social awareness, better skills and the bonus of some foreign language skills.

She added that a high percentage of the surveyed returning workers left their hometown to work in the cities, indicating the problem of brain drain in rural areas and increased social pressures in urban areas.

She said the Government should have policies instructing local authorities to help workers make better use of their savings and skills gained overseas.

Policies to support workers who returned home before the expiry of their labour contracts due to external factors should also be put in place, Nga added.

Duc, from the Centre of Overseas Labour, said that since 2012, the centre had been assigned by the labour ministry to work towards finding jobs for workers upon their return.

He said the centre would organise job fairs and develop a database of employers with a high demand for workers who return from overseas.

According to the Department of Overseas Labour, approximately 560,000 Vietnamese are working in 49 countries and territories in 30 types of professions. An average 80,000 new workers are sent overseas each year.

HCM City urges anti-disease drive

The Preventive Health Centre of HCM City has urged all city districts to take measures to prevent the spread of dengue fever, measles, hand-foot-mouth disease and Japanese encephalitis.

Nguyen Tri Dung, the centre's head, said the number of patients with dengue fever declined to 340 in June from 389 in May, but the upcoming peak of the rainy season would create favourable conditions for more cases to occur.

Speaking at a meeting between the Health Department and its district health centres held yesterday in the city, Dung said the number of dengue fever cases had fallen in the first six months by 12.5 per cent compared to the same period last year.

However, he said that districts should be prepared to use strict vector management in areas with a high risk of dengue fever.

The city also saw a decline in the number of hand-foot-and-mouth cases, from 1,018 in May to 933 in June. However, for the first half of the year, the number of cases rose by 5 per cent compared to the same period last year.

Dung asked the centre's branches in city districts to pay more attention to sanitary control at private kindergartens and family-based childcare facilities.

The number of measles cases also fell, to 253 in June from 589 in May.

The city is continuing its measles vaccination campaign for children under the age of 10 until the end of this month.

The campaign starting on May 16 has provided 64,326 shots to children.

The city also plans to carry out a Japanese encephalitis vaccination campaign for children aged one to five in an aim to prevent a disease outbreak, which occurred in Ha Noi a few months ago.

Rural poor get market help

The private sector should be encouraged to work with the rural and ethnic poor, country director of the Swiss Agency for Development and Co-operation in Viet Nam, Samuel Waelty, said yesterday.

Speaking at a workshop, Waelty said this could be a difficult task because of higher risks and transaction costs in rural areas.

Last year, the agency provided US$5.2 million to launch the Market Access for the Rural Poor (MARP) Programme to support projects and organisations in Viet Nam, Laos and Myanmar.

The three-year programme enables poor rural households and business, especially ethnic groups, to participate in agriculture value chains.

Projects focus on helping farmers and households with improved farming techniques, high-yield varieties and markets.

They also help business with innovations in production, management, human resources and finance.

In Viet Nam, for every percentage point increase in gross domestic production, the poverty rate fell by 1.2-1.3 per cent, but in 2010, more than 45 per cent of the country's population still lived on less than $2 per day.

In developing countries like Viet Nam, inclusive growth faces challenges, including market information and financial constraints, technology, inefficient farming and processing skills.

Small-and-medium enterprises often lack market linkage, expertise and finance to innovate and expand their companies to a size that impacts on the market.

This means that many firms are content to serve attractive, low-risk market segments, with little pressure to seek new market opportunities.

Satellite hospital plan still on paper

A programme under which major public hospitals will help improve hospitals in other provinces to ease their own overload has yet to begin despite being approved by the Government in March 2013, heard a review meeting between the Ministry of Health and HCM City-based hospitals on Wednesday.

The Satellite Hospital Programme is aimed at improving the quality of hospitals around the country by sending experts to work at the provincial hospitals and train personnel there.

In the first phase, to be completed by 2015, 48 hospitals in 36 provinces and cities have been identified for assistance in the specialised fields of oncology, cardiovascular treatment, obstetrics, paediatrics, and traumatology.

They will get assistance from 14 hospitals, nine of them under the ministry and the rest under HCM City's health department.

Chau Van Dinh, deputy head of the HCM City Hospital for Trauma-Orthopedics, said his hospital would assist general hospitals in the provinces of Khanh Hoa, Ninh Thuan, and Kien Giang.

But only Ninh Thuan has so far approved setting up of new facilities at the Ninh Thuan General Hospital under the programme.

Hoang Thi Diem Tuyet, deputy head of the Tu Du Obstetrics Hospital in HCM City, said Tien Giang has yet to approve plans to improve obstetrics facilities at the city general hospital.

Vo Thanh Dong, head of the ministry's HCM City office, said the central hospitals entrusted with carrying out the programme should take the initiative to work with provincial authorities and speed up things.

Lorry driver rams weighing station

The Transport Ministry has asked the Public Security Ministry to co-operate with People's Committee of Thanh Hoa Province to further investigate a report that a driver drove his articulated lorry at high speed into a local weighing station on Tuesday.

Trinh Ngoc Minh, chief traffic inspector of the provincial Transport Department told online newspaper VnExpress that the incident occurred when a team of inspectors suspected the lorry was overloaded.

They ordered the driver, Nguyen Van Thang, 31, from northern Bac Giang Province, to take his vehicle to the weighing station for testing, Minh said.

However, Minh said Thang drove at a high speed and then suddenly braked, damaging sensitive equipment on the road used to measure loads.

After the incident, the Directorate for Roads asked the provincial transport department to send a mobile scale to the station so that it could continue weighing trucks.

The transport ministry ordered the weighing station to be quickly repaired.

Local police remanded the driver in custody and seized the lorry for further investigation.

The driver may be charged with a criminal offence and asked to pay all costs to repair the damage.

38,000 laid-off workers get benefits

Nearly 38,000 laid-off workers in HCM City registered for unemployment benefits in the first half of the year, 12,000 fewer than in the same period last year, according to the city Department of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs.

Nearly 33,300 of them got unemployment benefits, a year-on-year decline of 2,800.

More than 57,000 new jobs were created, the same as last year.

A total of 143,100 laid-off workers were employed during the period, with 92,400 of them getting stable jobs.

More than 15,200 workers were involved in 45 cases of labour dispute this year, a decrease of 16 cases.

Waterway accidents kill 33 in H1

About 44 inland waterway accidents in the first half of this year killed 33 people, injured eight and caused VND2.7 billion (US$126,800) in property losses, according to statistics from the Department of Waterway Traffic Police.

The number of death was three lower than that of the same period last year.

The department in conjunction with localities issued fines for 91,200 waterway traffic violations, paying the State treasury VND50.9 billion ($239,000).

Three enterprises yesterday donated VND770 million (US$36,500) to the cow bank project run by the Viet Nam Red Cross Society.

The donations from Friesland Campina Viet Nam, the Bao Viet Tokio Marine and the Sai Gon Beverage companies, will be used to provide breeding cows to needy families in poor districts and border communes.

The project aims to provide at least 10,000 breeding cows to needy farmers in 28 poor and 1,000 border districts during 2013-14.

Oil spill response ship launched in Da Nang

A steel ship, which was designed to cope with oil spills at sea, was successfully launched in the central coastal city of Da Nang on July 3.

The ship, manufactured by the Bao Duy Oil Spill Response and Marine Service JSC in the city, is the first of its kind to be used in the central region.

The two-engine ship was built at a cost of over 5 billion VND (235,000 USD). It is equipped with air compressors, fire hydrants, a crane and an oil recovery machine.

Apart from handling oil spill problems, the ship can also serve as a rescue vehicle at sea.-

Ho Chi Minh City needs more skilled workforce

Ho Chi Minh City is in need of some 150,000 workers in the remaining months of this year, notably skilled ones, according to the city’s Human Resource Forecast and Labour Market Information Centre.

More than 37,900 were registered as unemployed in the first half of this year, of which nearly 33,300 received unemployment benefits, said the municipal Department of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs.

Nguyen Van Be, Chairman of the city’s Business Association, said the local labour market remains a paradox as the city has an abundant skilled labour force but few businesses are able to recruit those meeting their job requirements.

This was attributed to the lack of a close connection between training facilities and enterprises, he added.

The centre’s Deputy Director Tran Anh Tuan said the demand for labourers in the local market is growing in terms of quantity and quality, especially in the context of the country’s increasing integration into regional market.

Vietnam tightens traffic safety management

The National Traffic Safety Committee has reported that the number of traffic accidents, deaths and injuries in the first six months have decreased compared to the same period last year.

The first six months see nearly 13,000 traffic accidents which caused 4,689 deaths and 12,263 injuries. 10 provinces include Phu Tho, Ninh Thuan and Hau Giang reported that the number of traffic death in their area reduced by at least 20%. Especially, in Bac Giang Province, the traffic death decreased by over 50%.

However, the National Traffic Safety Committee said that the deaths from traffic accidents still increase, mostly in the Mekong Delta and southern provinces. The police has fined a total of VND1.5 trillion (USD71.4 million).

As of now, more than 3.4 million cars and 44.4 million motorbikes have been registered nationwide, putting more pressure on the urban infrastructure. However, congestion in both Hanoi and HCM City are decreased due to some adjusted policies.

One of the most urgent problem is the blatant operation of overload trucks. After the mobile weighbridge stations were deployed to all localities, traffic police carried out inspection and fined VND77 billion but the problem has not been fully curbed.

In order to ensure traffic safety, the Ministry of Transport also directed the department of transport at all localities to give health checks to drivers at transport firms in their areas. It is shown that over 1,700 cases are disqualified, of which 381 are positive with addictive drugs.

On the other hand, the Vietnam Register carried out irregular inspections at its member agencies and suspended two registration centres and one inspection line as well as 51 employees for wrongdoings.

Australian NGO helps Vietnamese children with chronic conditions

Caring and Living As Neighbours (CLAN), an Australian NGO devoted to helping children living with chronic health conditions, has co-operated with the National Hospital for Pediatrics (NHP) to organise the first meeting for about 100 families of children who are living with Lupus, on July 3.  

According to the Australian Embassy in Hanoi, since arriving in Vietnam on June21, CLAN experts, Dr Kate Armstrong and Dr Elisabeth Hodson, have supported training for health professionals and approximately 600 families at leading children's hospitals and treatment centres in HCMC, Hue, Thai Binh and Hanoi, focusing on nephritic syndrome (a chronic kidney condition). On July 6 they will also support meetings for families of children living with Duchennemuscular dystrophy (DMD) – a disease that causes progressive muscle weakness in boys, and osteogenesis imperfecta (OI) – a brittle bone disease.

CLAN has been collaborating with health professionals and families in Vietnam since 2004. Its mission is to help children living with chronic health conditions (diabetes, autism, congenital adrenal hyperplasia and kidney disease).

Last year, the Australian Embassy provided CLAN with a grant of nearly AUD10,000 to raise social awareness of chronic illnesses and enhance the knowledge and skills of parents of DMD and OI-affected children, so they could improve care for their children and build strong, supportive communities. This has also helped reduce the burden on hospitals in Vietnam.

CLAN has received contributions from doctors of the Children’s Hospital at Westmead in Sydney, Australia for their projects in Vietnam. Many world renowned experts from the hospital have not only given their time and expertise free of charge but also funded their own travel and at times helped CLAN raise much-needed funds.

Da Nang: 16,000 jobs created in first half

Da Nang City created jobs for 16,612 laborers in the first half of the year, a year-on-year increase of 26.13%.

The private sector took the lead by creating 8,569 jobs, followed by the Foreign Direct Investment sector with 4,181 ones, the household business sector with 3,400 ones and the State sector and joint stock companies with 431 ones.

As many as 136 foreigners were permitted to work in the city. Meanwhile 26 local people were sent abroad to work in such nations as Japan, the Republic of Korea, Taiwan and the Middle East.

These achievements are thanks to the improvement in the economic growth rate, the 1,100 businesses newly established in the first half, and the establishment of monthly job fairs in the city.

Islands need healthcare funds

Experts have called for more funds to improve healthcare services for people living in island areas.

This was revealed at an online talk organised by the Viet Nam Government news portal yesterday.

At the event, experts from the health sector said that services in the sea and islands was facing many challenges due to shortages of medical facilities and human resources.

They said there was a particular shortage of doctors trained knowledge in maritime medicine.

The healthcare sector also faces difficulties in increasing health insurance coverage in the areas due to shortcomings in the payment methods, the cost of first-aid - and difficulties with sea transport.

Deputy Minister of Health Pham Le Tuan said that first priority should be given to protect those living in sea and island areas, especially fishermen.

"Other key priorities must be focused on strengthening the capacity of island-based medical centres, units to transport patients to mainland hospitals and search and rescue centres," said Tuan.

He predicted that between 35-40 per cent of the country's population will live in coastal and island areas by 2020.

So health care for these people must become strong and comprehensive, breakthrough in efforts to ensure health care and protection for millions of people in coming years, added Tuan.

Viet Nam Insurance Agency deputy director Nguyen Minh Thao said that in sea and island areas, health cover was below 50 per cent, compared to the average rate for the country of 60 per cent.

Director of the Maritime Medicine Institute Nguyen Truong Son said that residents of sea and island areas had paid little attention to health care.

He said this was why it was important to strengthen awareness, especially in teaching people how to take care of themselves.

Survey results show that most fishing boats are not equipped with emergency kits or medicine boxes, said Son.

Statistics show that good progress has been made in one year developing the health project for the sea and islands. It was approved by the Prime Minister in February, 2013.

In the period, more than 1,640 patients received first aid, 32,070 were given treatment and 758 received surgery. Seven patients were saved by sending them to mainland hospitals by helicopter.

HCM City centre seeks funding for flood prevention

The Steering Centre for the Urban Flood-Control Programme has asked the HCM City People's Council to approve an additional 12 flood-prevention projects in the inner city.

The projects, which would cost a total of VND1.86 trillion (US$88.6 million), will improve water-drainage systems on several roads in Tan Binh District, Tan Phu District and District 2.

To eliminate flooding in the inner city, the centre has carried out many flood-prevention projects, and has dredged canals and cleared blocked drainage systems, according to Nguyen Ngoc Cong, deputy director of the steering centre.

Cong, who was speaking at a meeting with representatives of the city's People's Council's Economy and Budget Division on Thursday, said this had helped resolve 47 of 58 flood-prone sites in the inner city.

However, flood-prevention projects are behind schedule because of problems related to capital and implementation procedures.

This year, 22 flood-prevention projects in the city have been carried out.

Nguyen Van Lam, deputy head of the Economy and Budget Division, has asked departments and agencies to resolve any difficulties so that the projects remain on schedule.

The inner city covers a total area of about 108 sq km. Heavy rains and high tides have contributed to flooding in certain areas.

Vietnam’s new rules on work permits trouble foreign teachers

The new circular and decree issued by Vietnamese authorities in order to improve the management of foreign workers in Vietnam have caused troubles to many foreign teachers who are unable to meet all the conditions of the regulations.

Earlier this year, the Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs issued Circular 03/2014, which was released to guide the implementation of Decree No. 102/2013/ND-CP dated September 5, 2013 of the government that focuses on some articles of the labor code on foreign workers in Vietnam.

Under the circular, foreigners who are to be recruited as teachers must follow the same regulations applied for experts, in which they need a document that proves they have at least a university degree and five years or more of experience in the field that they are expected to teach in Vietnam.

Many foreign teachers as well as local employers are now unable to submit the required papers to officials.

According to Nguyen Van Phuc, principal of the Eastern International University located in the southern province of Binh Duong, there are 85 foreigners among the university’s 190 lecturers.

Many of them have 20 years of teaching experience in Vietnam but are still unable to obtain the correct papers following Circular 03/2014.

“We don’t know where to get that type of paper as even the consulate doesn’t grant it. This paper is unfamiliar with the foreign academic style,” he explained.

“Unlike Vietnam, in some Western countries, such as a university in Germany, the requirement to become a teacher is that you must have 10 years of experience working in the industry,” C.O., an Australian lecturer at an international university in Ho Chi Minh City, asserted.

In addition, a university representative who wished to remain anonymous emphasized that the administrative procedures for granting work permits to foreigners last a lot longer than before since the release of the new regulation.

“Previously, foreign workers could not apply for a work permit themselves and the recruitment agencies had to do this procedure. Now we have to submit the papers that present the workload and explain why we want to hire a foreigner for a position,” he said.

Phuc said that some clauses of the new regulations and the government’s objective create a clear regulatory framework for foreigners to work, especially in a sector in which the country does not specialize.

“I have nearly five years of experience teaching in Vietnam and consider the country my second home. I appreciate the fact that Vietnam wants to find qualified people and protect local workers as they also deserve jobs, but it (the regulation) might stop many talented foreigners who want to contribute to the development of Vietnam,” J.B., an Australian lecturer in Ho Chi Minh City, shared.

M.F., a Malaysian currently teaching at a university in the city, asserted that although he really loves Vietnam, he is uncertain of the government, which seems to change laws often and arbitrarily.

“Our team has a new teacher who arrived in early June and expected to start working as soon as possible. However, he is not allowed to teach as he has not yet submitted the required documents. We faced a lot of difficulties trying to arrange the workload and the new hire is tired of waiting for the officials’ approval,” the teacher said.

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