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Social Headlines for
December 3
Government
to build more centres for lonely elderly
The
Ministry of Construction proposed that the Government set up centres to take
care of lonely old people in 10 provinces and cities.
About
1.15 per cent of
Minister
of Construction Trinh Dinh Dung said that there were not enough such centres
to house the entire nation's old people. While there are more than 400
nationwide, only 180 take care of the elderly; the others house disabled
people and orphans.
Moreover,
Dung added, these centres look after old people's living conditions but do
not pay enough attention to their spiritual lives and mental health.
Under
the proposal, each province and city will set up one centre that can take
care of about 50 old people. The centres will be built under state, non-state
or community models.
State
centres, funded by the state budget, care for old people who contributed to
the resistance wars or are poor and cannot take care of themselves.
Non-state
centres enjoy priority policies related to land, capital and taxes but look
after old people who can pay for check-up and treatment services.
Community-based
centres are supported by external organisations and individuals.
Each
centre will cost about VND12 billion (US$571,400) to build, which will come
from a combination of local budget and funds for social services and includes
VND10 billion ($476,190) for construction and VND2 billion ($95,200) for
equipment.
The
centres will be piloted in the northern provinces of Cao Bang and Tuyen
Quang, the central provinces of Thanh Hoa and Nghe An and the southern
provinces of Tra Vinh and Dong Thap.
They
are expected to open by July 2015.
Meanwhile,
associate professor Luong Ngoc Khue, director of the Ministry of Health
(MoH)'s Medical Service Administration, suggested setting up specialised
geriatrics hospitals or geriatrics wards within established hospitals.
According
to a plan approved by MoH, National Geriatrics Hospital 2 with 500 sick beds
will be built in 2015 and two geriatrics hospitals will be built in
Khue
also suggested daytime hospitals, which would provide services during the day
so patients could go home in the evening.
Doctors
and medical workers should be trained to specialise in geriatrics, he said,
and supporting services at home for the elderly, including cleaning, cooking,
physical therapy and health consultancy, should be improved.
Professor
Nguyen Cong Khan, director of MoH's Science, Technology and Training
Department, added that a steering committee for geriatric health care would
be set up by MoH and the National Assembly's Social Affairs Committee by the
beginning of next year.
By the
end of next year, the committee expects to build an overall plan for taking
care of the elderly.
Work
begins on hydroelectric dam
The
first phase of dam building on the Ma River for the Trung Son hydroelectric
project kicked off yesterday.
Deputy
Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai attended the ceremony held in Trung Son
Commune, Quan Hoa District.
Addressing
the event, the deputy PM lauded local authorities, the project's investor and
the constructors for their great success in land clearance and other
preparatory work for the multi-purpose project. He urged the provincial
People's Committee and local authorities to implement resettlement work and
ensure a better life for people asked to move.
The
project is the first of its kind in
With a
capacity of 260 MW, the four-turbine plant is expected to add over 1 billion
kWh to the national power grid every year. The project also aims to control
floods in the lower reaches of the Ma River and create momentum for
socio-economic development and poverty reduction in Quan Hoa District.
Notably,
the project will contribute to
Construction
began in November 2012 and is scheduled to finish in August 2017.
Sea
exploiters face heightened fines
Fines
for illegally invading sea and island areas and the continental shelf of the
Socialist Republic of Viet Nam for tourism purposes will be as high as VND1
billion(US$48,000) under a new decree that comes into effect on January 1.
Offences
such as installing undersea cables and pipelines without the government's
permission and illegally exploiting sea currents, wind energy and other
non-living resources will face penalties of VND800 million-1 billion
($38,400-48,000).
Individuals
or organisations caught committing activities that could negatively affect
legal undersea cables and pipelines will face charges of VND400-500
million($19,200 – 24,000).
Other
violations in aqua management, environmental protection and maritime
activities beyond port waters will also be subject to punishment.
Consumers
need food supplement guidance
Health
experts including doctors should be required to provide specific counselling
on proper use of food supplements in order to avoid any damage that these can
cause, experts said at a conference last Saturday.
Nguyen
Thanh Phong, deputy director of the Viet Nam Food Administration under the
Health Ministry, said right understanding and proper use of food supplements
was vital to a person's health.
The
conference on food supplements was organised by the Viet Nam Food
Administration in co-operation with the Lao Dong (Labour) Newspaper.
Phong
said that proper use of food supplements was a good preventive measure
against various illnesses, but health experts including doctors had a very
important role to play in helping consumers learn how this could be done.
He
said existing regulations would be amended to add counseling on proper use of
food supplements to a doctor's duties.
Dr Le
Van Truyen, former deputy minister of health, said the network of pharmacies
in the country should be used effectively to help provide right knowledge on
food supplements to consumers. He said this had to be done because most
Vietnamese people still had the habit of consulting pharmacists before they
go to doctors or hospitals.
The
use of this network for providing specific advice on food supplements had
proved effective in many countries, he said.
Truyen
also called for tighter monitoring of advertisements promoting food
supplements.
Phong
said false or exaggerated claims in advertisements relating to food
supplements accounted for 53 per cent of violations recorded in the first ten
months of this year.
Nguyen
Manh Hung, vice chairman and general secretary of the Viet Nam
Standardization and Consumers Association, said advertisements of many food
supplements in the market carried false information or exaggerated their
benefits, leading consumers to believe that they are wonderful remedies for
all diseases.
In
this connection, the association received many complaints from consumers
about product quality, Hung said.
For
instance, one consumer saw a TVShopping channel advertisement on Dan Sam Tea
that claimed it could treat high blood pressure. After drinking the tea, her
blood pressure went up further. Hung said there had been many instances of
people's health conditions worsening after taking advertised supplements.
He
said health experts had warned that food supplements could cause allergies
and even lead to deaths in worst case scenarios.
Trieu
said relevant authorities should co-operate with media more closely in order
to control advertising content.
He
said merely requiring or encouraging manufacturers and distributors to be
honest in their advertising of food supplements was not enough for consumers
to develop a right understanding on their use.
Phong
said although the advertising content of products and services including food
supplements was examined and approved by relevant authorities, the media, including
newspapers and television, had to be more careful in scrutinizing it and
exposing any mistakes.
The
manufacturers and distributors should realise that false and exaggerated
advertising not only harms consumers' health but also reduces public trust in
food supplements, which could inflict economic damage, he added.
Phong
said the market of food supplements has developed rapidly in the country over
the last 12 years, with the number of products increasing from several
hundred to more than 10,000 now. Sixty per cent of these products are made in
As of
2012, there were 1,781 enterprises producing food supplements in the country.
Trieu
suggested that authorities study the management of food supplements in other
countries and find ways to develop a healthy market as well as healthy
practices.
He
said
Enterprises
already engaged in making food supplements should upgrade and use advanced
technology in their operations, Trieu said.
Anti-terrorism
drill held at HCMC airport
A
counter-terrorism and rescue drill took place at
The
large-scale simulation involved forces from the municipal Police, Air Defence
Division 367, the Ministry of Transport and the Department of Health, in
collaboration with the 44 international airlines operating at the airport.
The
drill was held under the scenario of an attack by 15 terrorists who held 200
passengers as hostages and shot security staff dead at the airport. All
forces were mobilised to rescue the hostages.
Billions
of dong returned to state
Nearly
7,000 people have had their monthly allowances reduced after localities were
found to have improperly carried out preferential policies towards citizens who
made meritorious contributions to the country.
Inspectors
from the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs found that as many
as 609 files of people listed as having made meritorious contributions to the
country were found to have been forged or included false statements.
At the
same time, VND 75 billion (US$3.5 million) has been returned to the state
budget, according to Minister of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs Pham Thi
Hai Chuyen.
Rural
living standards still low
A
survey released on Wednesday reveals a large and persistent gap in
development outcomes between residents living in mountainous and lowland
regions.
The
survey was produced after more than 3,700 households in 12 cities and
provinces nationwide were polled last year.
Called
Viet Nam Access to Resources Household Survey, it has been conducted every
two years since 2002.
The
latest one shows that income for most rural households continues to come from
farming and livestock, especially in the north and central highlands.
In
addition, members of small ethnic groups have much lower access to essential
goods, such as safe drinking water and high quality housing.
At the
same time, richer households are much less likely to own agricultural land
for any of their income.
According
to the
Khai
said that the Government must focus on helping those who no longer relied on
farming. "We should put resources on training them right in their home
town so they can focus on expanding and generating incomes from agricultural
production instead of forcing them to seek work in cities," he said.
The
survey was produced by the
Driver
schools to be privatised by 2014
Car
driving training centres nationwide will be privatised and equitised by the
end of 2014 in a move to improve the quality of training and even the playing
field between public and private centres, said Dinh La Thang, Minister of Transport.
There
are 316 driving training centres nationwide, of which 125 are
privately-owned, according to the
The
percentage of people wishing to learn to drive increased from 25 – 37 per
cent between 2004 and 2010 and then jumped to 43 per cent this year. As a
result, driving centres have mushroomed.
However,
although all facilities compete fiercely to attract learners, state-owned
centres have an advantage because they receive all their funding from the
State, said Nguyen Van Quyen, deputy director of the Viet Nam Road
Administration.
Nguyen
Vi Tung, director of a driving centre in Ha Noi, said that his centre
struggled with skyrocketing land use fees but could not increase tuition
because competition was too intense.
In addition
to attracting learners, centres need to have a high rate of passed examinees.
Therefore, they have to find ways to help their students pass the exam, which
can often be costly.
According
to a centre director in the northern
Centres
often attract learners by cutting tuition fees, which in turn cuts learning
time – which means many drivers on the road are not very skilled and there
are more accidents, said Nguyen Dinh Nghi, deputy director of the Police
Bureau for Administrative Management of Social Order.
To
solve the problem, the ministry will tighten supervision over centres. It
instructed agencies to create a level playing field between private and
state-owned training facilities.
Health
Ministry holds talks on new tobacco rules
The
Ministry of Health and the Vietnam Fatherland Front held a conference on
November 28 for district officials in southern provinces to explain in detail
the law on tobacco harm-reduction that took effect on May 1.
The
law prohibits selling tobacco to people under 18 years old. It also requires
cigarette manufacturers to include health warnings on the front and back of
cigarette packages.
Tobacco
use is the cause of 40,000 deaths in the country each year, according to the
ministry.-
Soc
Trang benefits from mangrove forest project
As
many as 20 hectares of mangrove forests have been planted over the past two
years in the Tran De district of southern Soc Trang province, helping
mitigate the impact of natural disasters in the area.
The
point was raised at a workshop held on November 29 by the Soc Trang Red Cross
society to review how the UK-funded project in the field has panned out.
The
project, which was sponsored by the UK Premier Oil Company, aims to improve
and increase the area of mangrove forests in the coastline areas of Soc Trang
province, preventing soil erosion caused by rising sea levels.
Following
the success of a pilot scheme in 2011, the company granted 1.6 billion VND
(75,000 USD) to local residents to plant over 100,000 trees over 20 hectares,
which will be expanded further next year.
Deputy
Chairman of the Tran De People’s Committee Lam Van Be said he hopes the
province will receive more support from both domestic and foreign sponsors to
increase the layers of protective forest density to shield local communities
from natural disasters.-
Firms
struggle to get climate change funds
Small
and medium-size enterprises are having difficulty in getting funds to adapt
their businesses to the impacts of climate change.
Pham
Thi Thanh Hang, director of the Investment Co-operation and Development Centre
for Small and Medium Enterprises, yesterday told a workshop in Ha Noi that it
was hard for enterprises to meet requirements for borrowing.
Although
mechanisms have been issued to encourage enterprises to adapt to climate
impacts, she said they were ineffective.
"I
think the mechanisms and policies are impractical," she said.
"I
expect policy-makers and managers to do something to fix the situation,"
she added.
Pham
Thi Kim Hoa, a participant at the conference, said that dozens of small-and
medium enterprises in northern
This
was because they lacked the skills to draw up detailed plans to persuade fund
management boards to lend them money.
In
response, the Association of Small and Medium Enterprises has been asked to
provide training courses for enterprises to improve their skills.
According
to Hoa, several small and medium enterprises in
She
blamed the mass media for failing to provide specific messages about how
climate changes will affect enterprises.
Hoa
recommended that the mass media should be used more frequently to pass on
information.
She
added that enterprises should be invited to workshops discussing climate
change so they had a chance to learn what they should do.
The
workshop was co-organised by the Viet Nam Chamber of Commerce and Industry,
and the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment's Department of
Meteorology, Hydrology and Climate Change.
Thousands
of helmets donated to pupils
Johnson
& Johnson, in collaboration with the AIP Foundation, has donated 3,848
helmets to first graders at 32 schools in Dong Nai, Quang Binh and Ha Tinh
provinces under the Helmets for Kids program.
Since
April, Johnson & Johnson has donated 21,476 helmets.
"During
the 2012-13 school year, helmet usage rates in our Helmets for Kids project
in schools has jumped from 26 to 96 percent," said Mirjam Sidik, CEO of
AIP Foundation.
Along
with the helmets, students received road safety training via quizzes,
painting contests and parades. Fun and educational road safety
extracurricular activities were organized at all 32 project schools.
In
addition, the Helmets for Kids programme conducted three teacher training
sessions in HaTinh, Quang Binh and Dong Nai provinces.
The
training gave 377 teachers the skills to talk about the importance of helmet
use to parents and students alike. Teachers will be able to organise road
safety workshops for students and parents throughout the school year to
sustain high helmet use rates and safe road behaviors.
Billboards
were installed at school gates to serve as daily reminders for parents and
students about the importance of proper helmet use.
New
bridge to facilitate socio-economy in northwestern
The
new Viet Tri bridge, which connects the
Construction
of the bridge, which spans the Lo River, began in Phu Tho on November 30.
The
736.5m long and 22.5m wide bridge will be built in 18 months in the form of
BOT (Build-Operate-Transfer) at a total investment of more than 1.9 trillion
VND (89.3 million USD).
The
new facility will also benefit tourists who come to visit and offer incense
to Hung Kings, the founders of the country, at their temple in Phu Tho
province.-
Free
check-ups provided for people in mountainous region
One
thousand people in Mu Cang Chai district in the northern mountainous
The
festival formed part of a pilot project sending young volunteer doctors to
mountainous, remote and border areas.
The
situation of the health sector and the demand for health workers in the
mountainous region were also reviewed during the two-day event.
Jointly
held by the Vietnam Youth Federation, the Vietnamese Young Doctors’ Association
and the provincial People’s Committee, the event aimed to ensure social
welfare and improve people’s health.-
Poor
heart patients in Tra Vinh receive free check-ups
More
than 1,000 poor patients, mostly children, in the Mekong Delta
The
service was jointly conducted by the provincial Red Cross, the Chau Thanh
district
This
is the second time the HMSH has organised humanitarian activities for poor
heart patients in Tra Vinh.
According
to doctor Pham The Viet from the Hoan My Saigon Hospital, after check-ups,
the hospital will join other sponsors to cover all the costs of heart surgery
on child patients and 10-20 percent for adults.
On the
occasion, the hospital signed a cooperation agreement with the provincial Red
Cross to provide free heart check-ups and surgery for about 100 local
children in 2014.-
Lao
Cai markets to remain traditional after upgrade
Authorities
in the northern mountainous
Tran
Huu Son, Director of the provincial Culture, Sports and Tourism Department,
said locals should be able to offer more than agricultural produce at the
markets, and the space should be big enough for them to display their wares
and for tourists to watch trading activities.
Apart
from agricultural produce, there should be a space in the market for cultural
products like khen (bamboo flute) and they can attract more tourists and
buyers if they perform with the instruments, he said.
The
province also plans to arrange accommodations for tourists, who wish to stay
there overnight and attend the early morning trading sessions, he said.
The
plan will relocate the market sites to facilitate access by both locals and
tourists without affecting the daily routines of ethnic minority communities,
Son said.
"We
will not let the traditional markets be commercialised and lose their
identity," he assured.
Presently,
tourists flock to just one big traditional market at the heart of Bac Ha town
held every Sunday morning to get a glimpse into traditional customs and
lifestyles.-
A
human rights official from the United Nations has asked
Speaking
at a November 29 working session in
She
suggested
This
is the first fact-finding tour of a UN Human Rights Council expert in
During
her trip, Shaheed visited
Nearly
10,000 nutritional supplements circulated in Vietnam: Ministry
Nearly
10,000 nutritional supplements are being circulated in the country and 40
percent of them are imports.
The
Ministry of Health released the news at a seminar themed “Nutritional
supplements: Role in prevention and management and orientation in future” on
November 30.
The
ministry’s Vietnam Food Administration said that within 10 recent years,
growing number of variety of nutritional supplements has been announced in
Consumption
of these supplements goes up gradually. Accordingly, as many as 1,800
producers and distributors have been licensed in the country.
The
administration also noticed management of these nutritional supplements.
There are many problems in management of nutritional supplements, especially
with many people taking part in a multi-level selling system and exaggerating
the use of the supplements.
In
addition, the health watchdogs can’t control the quality, prices and content
of these supplements.
Source: Dantri/VOV/Nhandan/SGGP/VNS/VNA
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Thứ Hai, 2 tháng 12, 2013
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