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News Headlines 8/7
Ministry
hails Ha Noi for clean water supply efforts
Most of the water
samples taken from plants that supply Ha Noi are of acceptable quality, an
inspection by the Ministry of Health has found.
Inspection results
released at a workshop on Wednesday said the water samples matched
"physical and micro-organism norms."
Inspectors had
collected more than 190 samples from 16 potable water plants and seven water
supply stations in the city.
However, in seven
out of the 23 water plants, located in Hoang Mai District, the samples failed
to meet one to three criteria on chemical contamination.
The amount of
ammonium nitrate and pecmanganate were higher than allowed levels in these
samples.
The amount of
arsenic in water samples taken from the My Dinh 2 water supply station was
1.82 times the allowed level.
Experts from the Ha
Noi Department of Health's Preventive Medicine Centre said the excess was
caused by geological factors.
Speaking at the
workshop, Deputy Minister of Health Nguyen Thanh Long praised efforts taken
to ensure the quality of potable water.
He also asked the
municipal People's Committee to strengthen its supervision of water quality,
saying the Health Ministry would not be able to carry out regular checks.
In particular,
municipal authorities should improve the quality of water pipelines because
they are considered the main culprits for poor quality water being supplied
to households, he said.
Long asked the Ha
Noi People's Committee to temporarily suspend the My Dinh 2 water supply
station because of the excessive amounts of arsenic. He said the station
should take corrective steps before it can resume operations.
Arsenic can affect
people's circulatory and nervous system. Those who have suffer arsenic
poisoning can suffer from baldness, nausea, amnesia, loss of weight and
cancer, health experts say.
Deputy Chairwoman
of the Ha Noi People's Committee, Nguyen Thi Bich Ngoc, asked the Department
of Construction to set up a plan to supply potable water to 5,000 households
that have used water from the My Dinh 2 station. This must be done
immediately, she added.
Ngoc suggested the
Health Ministry supports the city with necessary equipment and training
courses for workers to better supervise water quality.
She also proposed
that the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Natural Resources and
Environment and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development act
together in protecting the Hong (Red) and Day rivers and ensuring sufficient
supply for irrigation and residents' daily use.
Rural
workers receive vocational training
More than 1.6
million rural labourers received vocational training between 2010 and 2013,
but this was only 85 per cent of the target set.
A committee
implementing the project until 2020 was told yesterday that nearly 1.2
million of the trained labourers were able to get new jobs or earned higher
incomes at their existing places of employment.
Addressing the
meeting, committee leader, Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam, said all
authorities should ensure that agricultural skills offered in training
curricula were in line with agricultural development and restructuring.
Similarly, training
for non-farm jobs should be based on local development plans for industry,
services and handicrafts.
The Deputy PM said
vocational courses should be organised only after the prospects for jobs and
incomes for trainees were confirmed.
He requested the
Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs to work with ministries and
sectors to finalise a draft decision to the Prime Minister on vocational
training in general.
Dam added that
priority must be given to those covered by State preferential policies, those
living near or under the poverty line, ethnic people, people with disabilities,
fishermen and those who had their farm land revoked for other uses.
Participants at the
meeting agreed that the project's targets in training and job placement had
not been fulfilled and called for enterprises to become involved in creating
jobs for rural workers.
In a separate
development yesterday, Deputy PM Dam, head of the State Steering Committee on
the search for the remains of fallen soldiers, attended a meeting to review
progress.
It is estimated
that there are about 1.2 million fallen soldiers nationwide.
New
measures applied to co-operatives' efficiency
The Viet Nam
Co-operative Alliance (VCA) has mapped out several measures to raise the
operational efficiency of co-operatives in several economic sectors,
especially in agriculture, trading and services.
According to Tran
Ngoc Hung, VCA deputy chairman, the city had nine co-operative unions and 537
co-operatives in all sectors, including trading and services, transport,
industry, agriculture, credit funds, environmental hygiene, housing and education.
Although some
cooperatives have operated effectively, others have faced difficulties in
production and trading, with 78 co-operatives suspending business since 2012.
Speaking at a
meeting in
As planned, the
alliance would organise training courses for co-operatives, Hung said, adding
that it would also help them make greater use of e-commerce.
Regarding the
agricultural sector, he said that VCA would focus more on organising trade
promotions to seek more outlets for agricultural products, as well as
instruct co-operatives to combine agricultural production with eco-tourism services.
To raise their
competitiveness, Hung encouraged co-operatives in the craft and industrial
sectors to invest in upgrading their production technology.
In addition, VCA
will promote stronger linkages among co-operatives and between manufacturing
firms and co-operatives, and will urge more of them to join
Hung said that the
city should help co-operatives access bank loans to help them expand their
businesses.
Many of the
co-operatives do not qualify for bank loans due to a lack of assets that
could be used as collateral, he said.
Ngo Van Nam, deputy
director of the Tan Thong Hoi Dairy Co-operative, said the city People's
Committee should also consider granting land-ownership certificates for
co-operatives so they can feel more secure about their investments.
The city's business
cooperative sector is expected to achieve a growth rate of 12 per cent this
year, accounting for 1.1 per cent of the city's GDP, according to the VCA.
Dong Nai
opens new bridge
The southern
Deputy Prime
Minister Hoang Trung Hai praised the Ministry of Transport and
Construction on the
1.3km bridge commenced in 2010 with total funding of more than VND1.17
trillion (US$55.9 million). It runs parallel to another bridge of the same
name that sees transport of 30 million tonnes of goods annually. The distance
between the two bridges is 14.80 metres.
The new bridge will
serve vehicles passing through
The VND485 billion
($23.09 million) projects to build a tunnel at Tam Hiep junction and a
flyover at Amata intersection on
Hai expected that
the two projects would ease traffic on
He asked the local
authorities to co-operate with the project owner and create the best
conditions to ensure the quality and progress of the project.
The HCM City
Department of Health on Thursday launched the second phase of a programme
that sends doctors from speciality hospitals and those working for it to
hospitals in districts to improve the quality of treatment at these places.
Fourteen doctors
were sent to hospitals in Districts 5, 8, 12, Go Vap, and Cu Chi and health
centres in Districts 10 and Nha Be for a period of at least a year.
The first phase was
carried out in December 2013 with 37 doctors going to hospitals in Districts
6, 9, Can Gio, Nha Be, Cu Chi, and Binh Chanh.
All are intensive
care, paediatrics, obstetrics, ENT, or throat specialists.
In the six months
since they have treated 37,000 patients, performed 104 surgeries, and trained
130 doctors at the district hospitals.
With the
improvement in the quality of these hospitals, they have reduced the number
of patients they transfer to specialty hospitals.
Doctors at
With the assistance
of doctors from the Paediatrics Hospital No.2, doctors at
But ironically the
hospitals that sent them now face a shortage of doctors.
Delta rice
yields high despite bad weather
Farmers in Cuu Long
(
The yield this year
has been good, but heavy rains and winds in recent days have flattened many
rice fields in the Delta, contributing to higher harvesting costs.
The harvest of the
summer-autumn crop is expected to be completed by the end of August, the
Plant Cultivation Department said.
In Can Tho, farmers
have yielded 5.9 tonnes per ha, 0.3 tonnes higher than expected, due to the
use of high-quality seeds and proper farming techniques, local authorities
have said.
Pham Van Quynh,
director of Can Tho's Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, said
the city earlier this year dredged and upgraded dozens of irrigation works in
four districts, helping to retain water in fields.
In addition, the
four districts provided total loans of VND50 billion (US$2.4 million) to
farmers to buy input materials.
Farmers in Can Tho
have also planted rice under schedules set by local authorities to avoid
infestation by brown planthoppers.
Nguyen Van Be, a
farmer in Can Tho's Thoi Lai District, said he was worried about declining
prices although he had had a bumper harvest of nine tonnes per hectare of
In
Pham Thanh Hoai,
chairman of a commune's People's Committee in Chau Thanh A District, said
such fields required more time and labour to harvest, costing an additional
VND40,000-50,000 ($1.9-2.4) per 1,000 sq metres more to harvest by combine or
hand.
Flattened rice
fields in Long An Province, for example, lost 10-15 per cent of the crop
harvested by hand. Fields where combines were used lost about 3-5 per cent.
Long An authorities
warned farmers to store their harvested rice in flood-proof areas, as
flooding season will arrive soon.
Much of the planted
IR 50404 rice variety, which is weak and prone to collapse under heavy rain
or wind, was also flattened, according to the delta's provincial departments
of Agriculture and Rural Development.
Farmers often
prefer to plant low-quality IR 50404 because it is easy to grow and has a
high yield.
Pesticide
cleanup halted after residents spot water leak
The Natural
Resources and Environment Department of central
Do Chi Bao, who
lives in the commune, discovered water overflowing from a hole used to treat
the pesticide-contaminated soil last Tuesday.
"That night,
local residents smelled pesticides in the air," he said.
When the company
was found dumping expired chemicals and pesticides in 10 areas in the commune
last August, they were fined more than VND421 million (US$20,000) and
instructed to treat the soil. However, those living near the treatment site
were not allowed to watch the treatment, Pham Viet Long, head of the communal
supervision team, told Lao Dong (Labour) newspaper.
"We found that
the company was not separating untreated soil from treated soil as they were
supposed to," he said. "We wonder what type of chemical was used to
deal with the pesticide-contaminated soil and whether the company used enough
of it."
Long said at a
meeting held on Tuesday among the environment department and local
authorities of the district and commune that only the provincial People's
Committee had the right to decide who conducted the treatment. The
environment department was not allowed to make such decisions.
"So when
untreated soil is mixed with treated soil, causing environmental pollution
and harming human health, which agency is responsible?" he said.
Decision
1871/QD/UBND, approved by the provincial People's Committee on June 17,
stated that the treatment aimed to minimise the quantity of toxic substances,
as well as their effect on the surrounding environment and human health, as
quickly as possible.
The decisions also
required that the treatment not create additional environmental pollution.
The treatment
process involves packaging pesticide-contaminated soil and pouring it into an
area lined with a thick geotextile layer. After three to five days, chemicals
are sprayed over the contaminated soil, which is then irrigated with hydrogen
peroxide.
Company director
Nguyen Dinh Thong told Lao Dong (Labour) newspaper that the company wanted to
let the communal supervision team participate in the treatment to ensure
transparency and had asked the provincial People's Committee to consider
this.
Explaining the
overflowing of water from the hole to treat the pesticide-contaminated soil,
Thong said it was "only an incident".
The smell of
pesticides did not come from the water, but from a nearby warehouse belonging
to the company, he added.
Province
tackles waste treatment
Deputy Prime
Minister Hoang Trung Hai has inspected environmental protection measures put
in place, particularly in handling waste treatment, in the southern
At a meeting with
provincial officials last Friday, Hai praised the province for its work,
especially in the collection and treatment of waste.
The province had
successfully adopted a model, using a waste collection and treatment facility
that adapts high technology to protect the environment, while being located
far from populated areas.
He also voiced
approval of Binh Duong's plan to call for investment by private enterprises
in waste treatment, adding that the Government will create favourable and
preferential conditions to assist in this investment plan.
Hai added that the
government would consider the province's proposal to allow the use of
Official Development Assistance (ODA) capital for the follow-up phases of
waste treatment projects in the locality, as well as preferential tax
policies for investment by businesses in waste treatment.
However, he noted
that the provincial Company for Water Supply and Drainage and Environment
should pay more attention to treating odors coming from waste treatment
facilities and gradually mobilise local residents to separate different types
of rubbish before placing them into dustbins.
The Deputy PM was on
a fact-finding tour of the Nam Binh Duong waste treatment complex and the
waste water treatment facility at
The South Binh
Duong Solid Waste Treatment Complex was built on a 100ha site at a cost of
more than VND466 billion (US$22.2 million), 42.76 per cent of which was
funded through assistance provided by the
Meanwhile, the Thu
Dau Mot waste water plant was built with Japanese funding, at a total cost of
nearly VND2 trillion ($94 million). It has a treatment capacity of 17,650cu.m
of waste water per 24 hours.
At recent meeting
with officials from the city’s district-level health centres on the
development of diseases, it was reported that outbreaks of Japanese
encephalitis are likely to occur in District 9, and Hoc Mon, Cu Chi and
BinhChanh districts.
The disease, which
is caused by a flavivirus that affects the membranes around the brain and can
leave lasting damage to the central nervous system and even death, is warned
to reach its peak soon as it spreads through mosquito bites.
The current rainy
season in the city breeds mosquitoes, the vectors in other diseases also,
warned the Municipal Health Preventive Centre.
It recommended
parents to strictly follow the vaccination and dose schedule for their
children against the disease.
In the first five
months of this year, city doctors gave treatment to 34 children who have
suffered from several types of viral encephalitis, of which only Japanese
encephalitis can be avoided by vaccination.
Since 1997, the
national expanded immunization programme has included Japanese encephalitis
vaccination, focusing mainly on areas previously hit by the disease.
However, the
continuous occurrence of viral encephalitis made the Health Ministry come to
a decision to launch vaccination against Japanese encephalitis on a large
scale.
The city will give
vaccination shots in all of its 24 districts following its measles
immunization campaign.
Black market tobacco ‘booming’ in
Illicit tobacco
products are readily available in
In the first half
of the year, nearly 1,300 cases of illegal tobacco smuggling and trading were
detected in the city, mostly involving the brand names of Zet and Hero.
Functional agencies
report that as many as 277 smugglers have been arrested and assessed more
than VND3 billion in fines and other compensatory penalties.
However, the number
arrested represents just the tip of the iceberg, as many other smuggling
rings have not yet been uncovered, authorities report.
A significant
portion of the tobacco seized by authorities during the arrests originated in
Smugglers can earn
huge profits from their trade as tobacco prices in the Cambodian market have
been hovering around VND4,000 – 6,000/packet, two to three times lower than
the going rate in HCM City and surrounding provinces.
OVs in
The Overseas
Vietnamese (OVs) community in
Most OVs living in
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
Hoang Dinh
Nguyen Nhu Manh,
President of the OVs Association in
The OVs community
in
Last year, as part
of the Vietnam Day in
Teachers at
Vietnamese language class also introduce homeland’s sea and islands to second
and third generations who were born and grew up in
These activities
instill national patriotism and pride in OVs and help
A section of the
road from border maker No 790 to the Phoukeua international border gate in
The project’s cost
totals 50 billion VND (2.35 million USD) and is financed with non-refundable
aid from the Vietnamese Government. The 347-m section comprises of a
reinforced concrete bridge and other technical items.
Speaking at the
inauguration ceremony, Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc
spoke highly of efforts made by the two countries’ authorities in
implementing the project.
He stressed that
although the road is not long, it will serve as a gateway into
It will also play a
main role in bolstering cooperation among localities in the
Vietnam-Laos-Cambodia development triangle, Phuc added.
On behalf of the
Lao Government, Deputy Prime Minister Somsavad Lengsavath thanked the
Vietnamese Party and Government for their great support to the project, which
will contribute importantly to promoting his country’s socio-economic
development in the future.
Dak Lak
offers free swimming courses to children
The Central
Highlands
It is a pilot
project under a provincial scheme on child injury prevention for the
2014-2015, said head of the child protection office under the provincial
Department of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs Tu Thi Khanh.
Besides swimming
and first aid skills, the children are also advised on possible dangers and
measures to avoid them.
Since 2010, Dak Lak
has recorded 60 drowning deaths, 20 of which were seen in the first six months
of this year.
Binh Dinh
to receive help to overcome drought
The Minister of
Agriculture and Rural Development has promised to ask the Prime Minister for
an aid package of more than 100 billion VND for the central
Minister Cao Duc
Phat made the pledge at a working session with Binh Dinh officials on July 5
as part of his trip to inspect efforts fighting drought and the situation of
fishermen in the locality.
More than 12,900 ha
of rice in Binh Dinh are withering due to the drought, while over 18,700
households are suffering from water shortage for their daily use. Local
officials estimate that the number of affected households can rise to 28,890
if there is no rain from now until the end of the month.
The minister also
agreed to allocate capital for Binh Dinh to upgrade seven irrigation
reservoirs within this year.
Regarding support
for fishermen, Minister Phat said his ministry has submitted to the Prime
Minister a plan designed specifically for Binh Dinh, under which investment
will be provided for the building of 430 new fishing vessels and upgrading
1,550 ships. The Tam Quan Bac fishing port in Hoai Nhon district will also be
upgraded to serve local fishermen.
At the same time,
the ministry will assign its experts to work together with Binh Dinh to
research suitable farming and animal raising models for the province, the
minister said.
Central
Highlands helps minority poor access cultivable land
The Central
Highlands provinces are working to provide farming land for poor people from
ethnic minorities as a main source of their livelihood to secure stable
incomes.
According to the
Steering Committee for the Central Highlands, there are 31,800 ethnic
minority households in the region needing nearly 20,000 hectares of land for
production.
They include 1,116
households in Kon Tum, 13,974 in Gia Lai, 8,094 in Dak Lak and 8,503 in Lam
Dong.
Since 2002, the
localities have provided over 30,000 ha of farming and residential land for
72,000 households of ethnic minority groups.
Meanwhile, over
225,000 ha of forests have been allocated, as a source of livelihood, to
12,096 ethnic minority families.
Localities have
asked for the Government’s financial assistance to aid their project on
vocational training, farming machinery purchase and labour export intended
for ethnic minorities.
The Central
Highlands encompasses the provinces of Dak Lak, Dak Nong, Lam Dong, Gia Lai
and Kon Tum with a population of over 5.4 million people, 25.7 percent of
them ethnic minority.
Over the past 10
years, its economy has expanded 10 percent on annual average, generating 15
trillion VND (714 million USD) to its local budget.
The region’s farm
products, such as coffee, rubber, pepper, tea and cashew nuts, rake in
billions of USD from exports.
Nearly 97 percent
of local districts and communes have their own medical stations while many
new universities, colleges and vocational schools have been built.
A mere 13.64
percent of local households is living in poverty. For the past 13 years, the
region has offered vocational training to over 300,000 and generated jobs to
more than 1.15 million workers.-
Quang Ngai:
sea tourism proves successful
Ly Son island
district in the central
Notably, the number
of visitors to the island has been rising since early May, with 150-200 a day
and 300-400 at weekend.
The outcomes were
attributed to the district’s efforts to improve tourism facilities and
service quality.
Up to new 10 hotels
and tens of restaurants were built on the island, along with hundreds of
vehicles standing ready at the service of vacationers.
Domestic and
foreign holiday-makers to Ly Son can enjoy their time exploring cultural
identities of islanders and historical sites there.
One of the must-see
sites on the island is the Hoang Sa exhibition room, where a wide range of
valuable documents and exhibits are on display proving
The national
historical An Hai and An Vinh communal houses, which house an annual “Le khao
le the linh Hoang Sa” (Feast and Commemoration Festival for Hoang Sa Soldiers),
and tens of old pagodas are also among destinations favoured by tourists.
The People’s
Committee in
After discusses
with the Ministry of Education and Training, the Committee issued the
guideline asking the Education Department to stop the program which has
not been approved by the city Committee and make assessment of the available
program, Cambridge International General
Certificate of
Secondary Education (IGCSE), which was allowed by the Ministry in state-run
schools.
The city's
Education Department was asked to make a detailed assessment of every aspect
of IGCSE. Moreover, it has to explain the reason to stop the approved program
and how it affects students and parents’ interest.
Before, on June 23,
the Department and EMG Education Corporation announced that the Department
had talked with the
Education on the
implementation of the new English teaching program called “Integrated
program”, a new curriculum for teaching and learning
Maths, Science and
English at schools in HCMC, and the program would be piloted in the academic
year 2014-2015.
Two following days,
the Department sent guidelines for registering the program to schools in the
city.
However, on June
30, the British Embassy in
agreement between
the Department for Education (DfE) of the Standard and Testing Agency (STA)
from the
Doctors
save man stabbed in heart
Doctors of the
Patient Dang Cong
De, 25, was transferred from Go Dau Hospital in the southern
Surgeons decided to
operate his heart. They took 1,200 ml blood from the patient’s chest cavity
and found out that the swollen outer layer of the heart wall compressed the
heart.
When surgeons cut
the swollen outer layer of the heart wall to remove the clot of blood, they
discovered that he was stabbed in the left ventricle
(which pumps blood
to the body). A violent bleeding appeared in the 2-meter wound in the left
ventricle. Surgeons patched the wound up and put a drain from pleural cavity.
The man could
breathe well after 48 hours. Doctors said he is a lucky man as wound in heart
is fatal and most of victims died before being taken to a medical clinic.
Source: VNN/VNA/VNS/VOV/SGT/SGGP/ND
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Thứ Hai, 7 tháng 7, 2014
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