Vietnam plans World Day of Road Traffic Victims

Vietnam is planning a series of events to mark World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims (November 16), the third of its kind to be held in Vietnam.

From November 3-8, the National Committee for Traffic Safety will set up five working groups which will visit the families of road traffic victims in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, the northern provinces of Lao Cai and Yen Bai, the central provinces of Quang Tri and Thua Thien-Hue, and Can Tho city and Vinh Long in the south.

The Vietnam Buddhist Sangha will host a memorial ceremony for the deceased at Vinh Nghiem pagoda in Ho Chi Minh City on November 8, while a remembrance ceremony will be held in Hanoi on November 16.

A media campaign, workshops and forums are also planned.

Road accidents kill 1.3 million people every year the world over, a figure which is forecast to climb to 1.8-1.9 million in the near future. In Vietnam, 9,000 people die in road accidents every year, more than 20 per day on average, Transport Minister and Vice Chairman of the committee Dinh La Thang said.-

An Giang province, Cambodian localities establish twin villages

The southern province of An Giang and the Cambodian province of Takeo twinned their border villages, making it easier for locals to provide mutual support.

An Nong and An Phu communes and Tinh Bien town in Vietnam are twinned with Phnum Den, Xom and Kom Nop communes in Cambodia’s Kirivong district.

The signing ceremony in An Giang on November 3 is part of a memorandum of understanding between the Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee and the Governor of Takeo province.

From now on, the two sides will be able to coordinate trade and cultural exchanges better in order to increase mutual understanding.-

Vietnam seeks to enhance Geographic Information Systems

An international symposium on geographic information systems (GIS), which are advanced forms of technological software used to analyse and present geographical data, took place in the northern province of Thai Nguyen on November 3-4.

GIS is a computer system designed to capture, store, manipulate, analyse, manage and present all types of spatial or geographical data. Its applications and technologies are popular around the world in a number of fields, including national defence, the environment, healthcare, economic development, agriculture and forestry, tourism, urban and traffic management, natural disaster warning and climate change response.

Vietnam started researching GIS in the 1980s and a number of its top-rated tools are applied in agriculture and forestry planning, forest management, maps and surveys, land registry, information and transport management, tourism and climate change adaptation.

The University of Information and Communication Technology (UICT), part of the Thai Nguyen University, has been successful in integrating GIS into monitoring public buildings and making environment maps for agricultural production, amongst others.

At the symposium, scientists submitted more than 30 papers on GIS in remote sensing, information technology and communications, medical techniques, climate change response, and sustainable agriculture and forestry development.

On the occasion, the UICT announced the establishment of a GIS research centre which is expected to open up cooperation opportunities with scientists throughout the region.

The event was co-hosted by the UICT and Feng Chia University of Taiwan (China).

Excellent Bac Giang students honoured

Thirteen students of northern Bac Giang province who obtained outstanding achievements in study and university entrance exams in 2014 have been granted awards by the locality’s Hoang Hoa Tham fund of the provincial Youth Union.

Initiated by the union’s Fund for Supporting and Developing Young Talents, the fund aims to honour union members and young local residents who achieve excellent academic, professional and research results.

So far, the fund has granted awards to 400 local pupils and students, supporting them in pursuing their dreams.

During the award ceremony on November 3, the provincial Youth Union also held a seminar on hero Ly Tu Trong, the example he set for today’s youth, and new youth development models.

Ly Tu Trong, the first communist adolescent in the Vietnamese revolution, was arrested by the French army in February 1931 and executed in November at the tender age of 17.

Bac Giang focuses on building learning society

The northern province of Bac Giang has stepped up a campaign to mobilise the participation of all people strata in education and training with a view to building a learning society from the grassroots level.

Vice President of the provincial Study Encouragement Association (SEA) Giap Minh Quang said his organisation has set up its branches in 230 communes and wards, over 1,600 agencies and businesses, and 737 schools.

The association at all levels has significantly contributed to building up a healthy education environment without drug and violence as well as encouraging tens of thousands of disadvantaged pupils to go to school.

The SEA has cooperated with the Training and Education Department in building many community study centres in remote areas in a bid to help local people improve knowledge, thus reducing poverty and eliminating illiteracy.

It has raised nearly 73 billion VND (3.4 million USD) in funds to reward more than 719,000 outstanding pupils and those from difficult circumstances.

Thanks to these efforts, the province now has 3,990 “studious family lines” and 70,870 “studious families”, Quang said.

In time to come, Bac Giang will pay more attention to raising public awareness of building the learning society, improving the quality of the activities of the SEA at all levels, and bettering education and training consultancy.

Website helps improve educational management

The Ministry of Education and Training launched a website at http://truonghocketnoi.edu.vn , aiming to aid the organisation and management of professional activities in the educational and training sector. The site, supported by a modern IT infrastructure built by the military-run telecom group Viettel , is expected create a dynamic and effective education environment to facilitate easier access to education programmes for everyone.

At the launch ceremony held in the northern province of Bac Giang on October 31,

Minister of Education and Training Pham Vu Luan emphasised the significance of the network in not only serving the organisation of further training for teachers but also in arranging “creative experience” didactic activities for students at schools.

Accordingly, the Ministry, along with educational departments and offices and schools, will be responsible for managing and running the website and monitoring activities and related results of the system’s users at their management-level.

Teachers, who are members of the network, will have online training courses to better their professional skills. Meanwhile, member-students will implement assignments tasked by their teachers as well as taking tests available on the site.

Bac Ninh: Canon renovates kindergarten in poor rural commune

Canon Vietnam Limited Company has built new classrooms and toilets for Phu Lam 2 kindergarten in An Phu village, Phu Lam commune, Tien Du district, the northern province of Bac Ninh as part of its project “Canon Friendship Schools Chain” 2014.

During the handover ceremony on November 1, Canon Vietnam Director Katsuyoshi Soma presented to the school a key as the symbol of friendship between the firm and Phu Lam commune’s people as well as furniture and stationery to support its education.

Principal Do Thi Xuan expressed her gratitude to the company for providing 120 children in An Phu village and surrounding areas with better facilities and learning conditions.

The project “Canon Friendship Schools Chain” aims to foster educational environment for teachers and students living in poor mountainous regions.

It has been supporting 38 schools in 17 northern and central provinces since 2009 by funding the construction of new classrooms, teacher’s rooms, restrooms, hand-washing stations and gifting books, bicycles, beds, cameras, printers and computers to the students.

In September this year, it launched a bicycle donation programme in Bac Giang province, aiming to support outstanding disadvantaged students through the donation of 140 bicycles, worth 154 million VND (7,700 USD) in total.

Under the programme, called “Canon - With you to school”, 100 bikes are to be distributed to four schools participating in the programme for the first time, while the rest will be given to four schools that joined last year.

Canon Vietnam also launched its “Light up the countryside” project, which will oversee the installation of street lights along more than 9 kilometers in disadvantaged areas in Bac Giang. The lighting system, which costs nearly 200 million VND (9,400 USD), will help maintain social security in rural areas.

Since the project commenced in 2013, the company has invested 600 million VND (28,500 USD) in lighting up over 28 km of roads in four districts in Bac Ninh province and two others in Bac Giang province.

Patients still wait hours for medical exams

Patients still have to wait long, normally four to eight hours, for their turn to take medical checkups despite reduced administrative procedures, according to a survey of the city’s health department.

The survey took stock of the actual performance of public hospitals in HCMC that are reforming medical examination and treatment procedures.

Earlier, many hospitals required patients to take eight to 12 steps to register for medical checkup or treatment. The number has fallen by half now.

Meanwhile, the waiting time has decreased slightly to two hours at many healthcare facilities. Previously, patients had to wait four to six hours on average to see the doctor; and the waiting time even surged to eight or 10 hours at some places.

According to the HCMC Department of Health, this is a step forward in the administrative reform as it has helped reduce inconvenience for patients and ward off corrupt practices at hospitals.

However, there is still no improvement in Tu Du Maternity Hospital, Hung Vuong Hospital, Mekong Maternity Hospital and HCMC Heart Hospital. People coming to these hospitals have to wait four to six hours with many cumbersome procedures to be completed before they can see the doctor.

Only 10 out of 51 hospitals in HCMC have cut down on procedures, waiting time and other demands for medical checkup or treatment. Most healthcare workers in public hospitals have been reflected as slow and unprofessional in terms of service and attitude.

At hospitals in districts 3, 5, Tan Binh and Thu Duc, people have to complete 10 to 12 procedures and wait six to seven hours for their turns. They also have to go through three or four stages to get tested or wait an hour to pay hospital fees.

Besides, hospitals’ leaders are also reluctant in cutting unnecessary procedures to boost the process. Especially, some healthcare workers are neglectful in serving, making life difficult for patients and their relatives.

In the coming time, the city’s health department will step up administrative reforms, reducing or combining redundant procedures to achieve the health ministry’s objective on reducing waiting time and overload at hospitals.

The department will open more access points to receive medical checkup and treatment records, as well as invest heavily on equipment, waiting rooms and staff. Doctors, laboratory, pharmacy and fee collection departments will be connected to hospital leaders and relevant offices to reduce waiting time.

HCM City says no to bridge delay

The HCMC government has sought Government approval for starting work on a new Thu Thiem bridge project in the downtown area next year as scheduled, instead of delaying it until 2018 as proposed by the Ministry of Defense.

According to a document the city sent to the Government Tuesday, the Thu Thiem 2 Bridge is among the 14 over the Saigon River the city has put in its master plan designed to connect Thu Thiem New Urban Area in District 2 and the city’s downtown in District 1.

Thu Thiem 2 will pass through Ba Son Shipyard under the administration of the Defense Ministry when it is completed in 2017 as planned by the city government.

The city authorities noted that early work on the new bridge would help bolster the development of the new urban area, and ease traffic congestion in the city.

Project owner Dai Quang Minh Real Estate Investment Company has finalized the feasibility study. The city will submit the design of the project to the Ministry of Transport for approval next month.

After that, the city government will complete the project evaluation, break ground for the project next year, and finish construction work within two years as expected.

Earlier, the Defense Ministry asked the central Government to delay the project until 2018 to allow Ba Son Corporation to fulfill its defense contracts by the end of 2017.

The building of the bridge, the ministry reasons, will occupy around 12,000 square meters of land at Ba Son Shipyard, and directly affect the firm’s shipbuilding operations. It can even stall entire operations of the shipyard due to an 10-meter clearance of the bridge.

The VND2.3-trillion Thu Thiem 2 Bridge is designed to be 852 meters in length, excluding access roads at both ends, and 19.3 meters in width. The investor has adjusted the 1.2-kilometer bridge from four lanes to six lanes.

At least 1 million poor people to receive free health check-ups

A humanitarian campaign launched by the Vietnam Red Cross (VRC) and the Ministry of Health aims to provide free health check-ups and treatment for over one million poor people each year in Vietnam , VRC Chairman Nguyen Hai Duong said on October 30.

The campaign’s launch ceremony will be held in Hanoi on November 2 with the participation of around 2,000 volunteers. Eight groups of doctors will tour poor districts in the northern and central provinces such as Lang Son, Hoa Binh, Lai Chau, Phu Tho and Thanh Hoa.

Red Cross Societies and health sectors in 17 out of the 63 cities and provinces throughout the country will participate in the campaign, which calls for community engagement in taking care of individuals from disadvantaged and socially challenging backgrounds, prioritising those in remote areas and border and island localities.

A review workshop is scheduled to take place on the occasion of the Vietnamese Doctors’ Day on February 27, 2015.

Under the theme “Joining hands for community health”, the campaign will focus on increasing local residents’ awareness of personal hygiene and environmental sanitation, as well as equipping residents with essential skills in first aid, natural disasters response, and emergency rescue efforts.

The organisation board will provide houses, cows, and health insurance for those living under the poverty line and encourage people to participate in blood donation programmes.

The campaign is part of the 2014-2017 collaboration programme signed this July between the VRC, the Ministry of Health, the Vietnamese People’s Army’s General Department of Politics, and the Vietnamese Young Doctors Association.

USAID keen to include private sector in HIV-related market

The US Agency for International Development (USAID) launched a programme to stimulate a market for HIV-related goods and services with the involvement of the private sector in Ho Chi Minh City last week.

The project will provide financial support and incentives to encourage the involvement of private enterprises in importing, producing and distributing HIV-related goods.

Addressing the launch ceremony, the Assistant Administrator for Global Health at USAID, Ariel Pablos-Mendez, highlighted the role of the private sector in facilitating access to HIV-related goods in Vietnam.

Meanwhile, Director of the Ho Chi Minh City branch of the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI), Vo Tan Thanh, highlighted the public-private partnership on HIV-treatment and preventive services.

The project will run until 2019 with a total investment of 15 million USD. It will be implemented by Path International Vietnam, a health non-governmental organisation, and the Centre for Creative Initiatives in Health and Population.

Da Nang mitigates climate change impacts in urban areas

The Da Nang People’s Committee and the French Development Agency (AFD) jointly held a conference last week to review a project on mitigation of climate change impacts in the central city’s urban areas.

The event aimed to promote support solutions for dealing with natural disasters and implement a national strategy on green growth with the goals of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 8-10 percent and those from energy consuming activities by 10-20 percent by 2020.

Data from the municipal electricity department in 2013 showed that Da Nang ’s energy consumption is as much as that of a European city, with a total of more than 264,000kWh per year.

Project specialist Vu Thi Mai Huong emphasised the need to improve public awareness of risks from greenhouse emission from energy consuming activities and encourage people to use energy-saving equipment

A representative from ADF said the organisation pledges to continue support for Da Nang in this field so as to make it an environmental city by 2020.

Wild animals released back to nature

The Hanoi Wildlife Rescue Centre has released 331 wild animals into Tay Yen Tu nature reserve in the northern province of Bac Giang.

The released animals include 275 red-whiskered bulbuls, 14 Bourret’s box turtles, 15 stripeneck leaf turtles, 22 keeled box turtles and five wild cats.

The centre said this month it has received 217 animal individuals including four sunda pangolins, 210 red-whiskered bulbuls, one wild cat and two stump-tailed macaques.

The State-run centre is housing many wild animals rescued from poachers and illegal traders.

Also in October 2014, the Hanoi Forest Ranger Department detected and punished seven cases of violations to the law on forest protection and development.

Hau Giang to devise planning for biomass energy

The southern province of Hau Giang has been chosen as a model to devise a master plan for biomass energy by the German development agency GIZ, considering its abundant source of solid farming wastes.

Hau Giang relies solely on agriculture for economic growth with 200,000ha of rice and 12,000ha of sugarcane, generating tens of thousands of tonnes of straws and bagasse – key materials for producing power.

At a workshop to launch the work on the master plan in Hau Giang on October 29, Director of the New and Renewable Energy Department, an arm of the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT), Pham Trong Thuc said the plan should be completed by February next year.

The plan will assess the potential of the existing biomass, outline the rule to use this source of energy and consider possible impacts on greenhouse gas emission, he said.

During the workshop, technical experts from GIZ presented an overview of the Vietnam – Germany renewable energy development project and the role of biomass in Vietnam’s sustainable development strategy.

Nguyen Duc Cuong, Director of the Centre for Renewable Energy and Clean Development Mechanism under the Institute of Energy, said biomass reserves in Vietnam are estimated at 150 million tonnes a year, equivalent to 50 million tonnes of crude oil. Besides bagasse and rice husk, all kinds of fiber and waste from agricultural and forestry activities after harvest could be used as fuel for electricity generation.

The country is also seeking to develop other sources of renewable energy, such as bio-gas and waste energy.

Over 700 students take part in Informatics Olympic Contest

Ministry of Education and Training in collaboration with Vietnamese Informatics Association hosted an opening ceremony of the 23rd Vietnam Informatics Olympic Contest and the 2014 ACM International Collegiate Programming Contest (ACM/ICPC) at Industrial University of Ho Chi Minh City on October 29.

This year’s contest attracted the participation of 702 Vietnamese students from 66 academies, universities and colleges. The ACM International Collegiate Programming Contest aims to select best contestants to attend in the 2015 ACM/ ICPC World Finals in Marrakesh (Morocco).

The contest takes place at Industrial University of Ho Chi Minh City from October 29-31.

At the opening ceremony, the organizers awarded first, second, third winners and championship at the 2014 online national ACM/ICPC contest.

Newborn baby ejected from womb in accident no longer uses ventilator

The newborn baby who was flushed out of his mother’s womb right after a traffic accident in the Mekong delta province of An Giang and had his right leg crushed no longer use ventilator, said the Children Hospital No.1 yesterday.

Doctors are checking his organ function. They fretted about infection in  right leg. Best antibiotic kinds have been used to treat the infection to save his life. The Hospital and the Insurance Company will cover his treatment fee.

The pregnant young woman was driven to hospital to deliver her second child in An Giang Province by his husband on October 25.

However when they were driving along the National Highway No 91 near the construction site of Rach Goi Lon Bridge in the province’s Long Xuyen City, a concrete mixer truck hit the couple from behind.

The mother was crushed by the truck and was killed instantly. The impact also forced her unborn son out of her womb. The infant got one of his legs crushed while his father had one of his legs seriously broken.

The newborn baby was soon transferred to the Children Hospital No.1 in Ho Chi Minh City. He has been under intensive care since then. However, despite doctors’ efforts to save one of the baby’s legs, they finally had to amputate it.

The father is being treated at An Giang General Hospital. He also had one third of his right leg amputated.

Forest rangers suspected of complicity in illegal logging

Danang City officials have vowed to strictly punish anyone involved in a case which resulted in a large cash of timber found near the office of local forest rangers.

On October 27, during the meeting on the illegal logging, at Ba Na-Nui Chua's special-use forest, many officials suggested that illegal loggers could be getting help from forest rangers. The issue was brought up in the wake of an incident in which 43 cubic metres of timber were found near the station of forest rangers.

Pham Ngoc Su, director of the Ba Na-Nui Chua Forest Management Unit, said, "We've tried to extract explanations from those employed at the Ca Nhong Forest Protection Department, and those found to have been involved will be replaced with more capable officials."

Tran Van Luong, head of the Danang Sub-Department of Forest Protection, said, "We have no intention of covering up for corrupt officials or loggers. Corrupt officials will be prosecuted." A number of other officials agreed that the amount of timber discovered was due cause for prosecution.

The vice chairman of Danang People's Committee also agreed that it was a matter to be taken seriously and asked agencies to strictly deal with violators.

On routine patrol, a team from the Quang Nam Province Department of Forest Protection found over 10 cubic metres of illegally-cut timber at two carpentry workshops on October 24. On expansion of the investigation, they found more wood that had been buried. This wood was in close proximity to the district's administrative area as well as the Ca Nhong Forest Protection Department.

Last week, dozens of cubic metres of illegal timber were also found near Ba Na-Nui Chua special-use forest.

Five officials at the Ca Nhong Forest Protection Department have been called to testify in the investigation.

HCM City wants higher Highway 1 tolls

The HCMC government has asked the People’s Council for approval to revise up tolls on the National Highway 1 section in the city by 30% to 100% from next year.

The new tolls, if endorsed, would apply to the 14-kilometer section of National Highway 1 running from An Suong Intersection in District 12 via Binh Tan District to An Lac Roundabout in Binh Chanh District.

Those using this highway section now pay tolls at An Suong-An Lac Toll Station in Binh Tan District.

Infrastructure Development Investment Joint Stock Company (IDICO) has been upgrading this stretch of the cross-country highway under the build-operate-transfer (BOT) format.

In a recent document sent to the council, the city government proposed IDICO be allowed to adjust up tolls to the minimum rates provided in Circular 159/2013/TT-BTC of the Ministry of Finance and those approved by the People’s Council of the city for the Hanoi Highway and Binh Trieu Bridge toll stations.

The new tolls would come into force from January 1, 2015.

The highway upgrade project is being implemented in three phases. The widened section of the first phase worth over VND831 billion was opened to traffic in December 2004 and the investor started to collect tolls on this section in January 2005.

In the second phase, IDICO built two interchanges and overpasses between National Highway 1, and provincial roads 10 and 10B as well as a divider between lanes for autos and motorcycles at a total cost of VND705 billion.

The company is now constructing an interchange between National Highway 1 and Huong Lo 2 in the final phase with total investment capital of VND407 billion.

Aside from the toll hike proposal, the city government has suggested a road map for toll increases at the An Suong-An Lac station in 2020, 2025 and 2030 to help the investor recover capital by 2033.

The An Suong-An Lac section of National Highway 1 links HCMC and provinces in the southeastern, southwestern, central and northern regions.

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