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News 28/10
President
Obama thanks Vietnamese American nurse
Nurse Nina Pham -
the first person to catch Ebola on
"I feel
fortunate and blessed to be standing here today. Throughout this ordeal, I
have put my faith in God and my medical team." Pham said on October 24
at a press conference.
“The Ebola
experience was a very stressful and challenging time,” she said adding
"I am on my way back to recovery even as I reflect on how many others
have not been so fortunate."
White House press
secretary Josh Earnest called Pham's case "a pretty apt reminder we do
have the best medical infrastructure in the world."
"The track
record of treating Ebola patients in this country is very strong,
particularly for those who are quickly diagnosed," Earnest said.
Children
mistakenly injected with water instead of vaccine
In
The Dong Thap
Department of Health confirmed that six bottles of distilled water had been
used instead of the vaccine at a kindergarten.
Although it did not
result in any reported harmful effects, the department did place blame for
the mistake on an inexperienced staff member who, they said, forgot to mix
the vaccine powder with water before injection.
The provincial
Department of Health held a joint press conference with local officials to
explain the incident and make a public apology to the families.
The staff member
who gave the shots was also susupended by the Health Centre of Cao Lanh City.
An estimated 23
million Vietnamese children between the ages of 1 and 14 will be vaccinated
against measles and rubella following the launch of the largest-ever
nationwide vaccination campaign starting from September 15.
The campaign will
be carried out in three phases, with the first providing free measles-rubella
vaccine for children under five in September and October, the second
targeting children in the 6-10 age group in November and December, and the
third for kids aged 11-14 in January and February next year.
Bac Giang
province keen to develop forestry
The
The Deputy Director
reported that the province’s wood output from planted forests reached 30,000
cubic metres in 2014, 40 percent higher than its target.
Bac Giang has also
successfully reduced the area of forests damaged by fire with no major forest
fire occurring so far.
The locality
targets to expand its forest coverage to more than 37 percent through the
planting of 5,000ha of forest in a bid to help protect the environment, ease
natural disasters, protect bio-diversity of forests while raising income for
local people and reducing poverty rate from forestry.
The province has
also issued a detailed plan on the protection, development and use of the
existing forests and land designated for forestry.
The meeting took
place as part of the
During the working
session with Mexican Director General of International Relations at the
Ministry of Education, María del Socorro Rovirosa, Nghia proposed a bilateral
agreement on tertiary education cooperation.
The Mexican
official pledged to examine
The two sides
discussed information and teaching method sharing, the exchange of
delegations and the promotion of signing an agreement on the recognition of
the respective countries’ degrees and qualifications.
4,000 workers strike against company regulations
In response to
rules seen as draconian by employees, workers at Vina Duke Company in
Staff members at
the company are allowed 150 minutes per month bathroom time, with any extra
time used in the toilet being deducted from their salaries. This, among other
strict rules enforced by the company, has caused a backlash from their
workers, who went on strike en mass in the past week. The striking workers
reached numbers of nearly 4,000.
Representatives for
the employees said that, since September, the company suddenly reduce the pay
for piece-work by VND200 per unit without any explanation, without raising
the base salary.
The company also
put into place other strict regulations including the time limits on bathroom
breaks. Employees say that the restrooms are located far away from work
stations, which makes it difficult for them to fulfill the requirements.
Salary deductions for violating the company policy amount to VND450,000.
Workers are also
forced to pay for company meals, which they say is of very poor quality.
Initially, when the
protest began, there was no negotiation from management. The only
communication from the board of directors has been signboards pasted on the
gates demanding that employees resume work immediately, and without pay for
the days they have been absent. However, on October 21, a company
representative was sent to arbitrate.
Since then,
representatives from the Trade Union of Hooc Mon District have said that the
company has given signals they may be willing to reduce the price of meals
and build more convenient restrooms.
The Trade Union of
Hooc Mon District said that following the workers’ strong reaction, director
of the company said the meal price will be adjusted and new rest-rooms will
be built.
Demands for a raise
in pay, however, seem to have fallen on deaf ears. The company has said that
any salary increases would have to be prompted by new government regulations
on minimum wage.
Youth
voluntary campaign kicked off in Cao Bang
The Vietnam Youth
Union launched the 2014 winter voluntary campaign in the
The campaign will
focus on four main groups of activities which are to help farmers cope with
the upcoming winter, join hands in overcoming flood consequences, provide
free health care to the disadvantaged, and gather support for the poor to
celebrate the upcoming Lunar New Year.
The union set the
targets of providing free medical checks and medicine to around 50,000
people, collect 100,000 tonnes of food and 100,000 blankets for the poor and
build 50 charitable houses.
Following the
launch ceremony, the union offered free health check-ups and medicine to the
locals and started construction of a charitable house. Representatives from
the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union visited and presented gifts to needy
students, the poor and those who rendered services to the nation.
Enterprises in the
southern economic hub of
Temporary workers
are required in a number of sectors, including garment production,
information technology (IT), sales and marketing, services and hospitality.
Manual labour is in
high demand, accounting for 33 percent, followed by graduates and
postgraduates with 14 percent and technicians with 7 percent, the municipal
Centre of Forecasting Manpower Needs and Labor Market Information (FALMI)
announced on October 22.
Demand for workers
in October increased by 40 percent compared to the previous month, mainly in
IT, electronics and mechanics, food technology, real estate, and marketing
and sales.
In October, the
number of job seekers rose by 10.7 percent, which the majority of applicants
trained in IT, architecture, construction, management, sales, and accounting.
Graduates make up as much as 58.3 percent of job seekers.
The private sector,
especially foreign-owned businesses, offers the most employment
opportunities, accounting for 78 percent of recruiters. Almost 70 percent of
positions require candidates to have previous work experience.
Asia-Pacific
forum to review policies on People with Disabilities
The biennial Asia
and Pacific Disability Forum (APDF) conference on the implementation of the
rights of people with disabilities will commence in
The focus of the
conference is to review the progress made on the Incheon strategy with regard
to the realisation of the rights of people with disabilities in the fields of
education, employment and the media. The strategy is part of the ministerial
declaration issued at the first APDF in Incheon, the
Participants will
also discuss how to increase public awareness of the rights of people with
disabilities.
A number of side
events will be organised during the four-day event, including an exhibition
of handicrafts made by people with disabilities, a walking tour of Hanoi, a
gala dinner and a singing contest.
In a congratulatory
message to the organising board, President of the Vietnam Fatherland Front
Central Committee Nguyen Thien Nhan hailed the upcoming event as an appropriate
celebration of the International Day of Persons with Disabilities (December
3).
The event will be
co-hosted by the Vietnam Federation on Disability and the Ministry of Labour,
Invalids and Social Affairs.
Emergency
helicopter helps save life of ill fisherman
A fisherman
suffering from acute lung failure with the risk of heart, liver and kidney
damage caused by a throat abscess has been saved after being flown ashore by
a military helicopter for emergency treatment.
Le Quang Minh, 20,
from the central
The next day, his
symptoms intensified with a high fever, swollen tongue and lung infection.
The island’s army medical staff discovered an abscess in his throat.
On the morning on
October 21, Minh was diagnosed with respiratory failure with a high risk of
developing acute respiratory distress syndrome.
At 13:45 on October
21, the Air Force’s Division 370 dispatched a helicopter and a medical team
to the island to bring the man ashore for emergency medical treatment.
After first aid
treatment, the patient was flown ashore on the morning of October 22. He is now
recovering at Hospital 175.
Over 99 pct
of communes join national power grid
As of September
this year, over 9,000 communes throughout the country or 99.4 percent have
been connected with the national power grid.
Notably, two
undersea power transmission cable projects linking the island districts of
Phu Quoc in southern Kien Giang province and Ly Son in central Quang Ngai
province to the national grid were put into operation in February and
September this year.
The two projects
have benefited more than 21,000 households in the two districts, helping to
raise the percentage of households with power supply to 98.4 percent.
The Electricity of
Vietnam has sold power to over 85 percent of communes nationwide, with more
than 81 percent of rural households.
The group is also
running a range of projects in a bid to improve the efficiency of its power
supply.
Tran Ngoc Sinh,
chairman of HCM City Nephro-Urological Association, said the hospital
performed 40 kidney transplant surgeries every year, with living donor kidney
transplantation accounting for 95 per cent.
Since 2008, Cho Ray
hospital has saved the life of 13 people who needed kidneys. The organs were
taken from seven donors whose hearts were still beating but had experienced
brain death.
The hospital was
also preparing to conduct donor transplants from kidneys taken from
"non-heart-beating" patients, Sinh said.
Every day, the
hospital received an average of five people a day with brain death or a
non-beating heart due to traffic accidents.
Organs from these
patients, including kidney, liver, heart, lung and pancreas, could be used
for transplant, Sinh said.
Du Thi Ngoc Thu,
head of the hospital's Unit for Co-ordinating Human Organ Ttransplantation,
said that more than 6,000 people across the country with serious kidney
failure were in need of kidney transplantation.
A total of 1,500
people were waiting for liver transplants while 6,000 needed cornea
transplants, Thu said.
The new unit is
also expected to help prevent illegal trading in human organs.
Police
destroy marijuana farms
The
He said the police
also destroyed hundreds of kilograms of the farms' marijuana.
People from other
provinces had hired local farmers to plant the marijuana. However, many local
farmers did not know what the plants were, Oach said.
The police asked the
province's administration to promote marijuana awareness.
Cameras to
monitor hospital procedures
The Radio the Voice
of Viet Nam (VOV) will install modern camera systems at 12 hospitals in Ha
Noi and
The ministry and
VOV will also produce a radio news channel focusing on healthcare activities.
The news channel will inform listeners about the health ministry's activities
and healthcare activities observed via the surveillance systems, in addition
to spotlighting good doctors. A dialogue between listeners and health
officials about major issues of public concern will be broadcast live on
VOV's FM 91Mhz every Saturday.
Health Minister Nguyen
Thi Kim Tien said the co-operation agreement demonstrated the health
ministry's efforts to improve administrative procedures and the quality of
healthcare.
Farmers
reap benefits from innovations
New agricultural
seedlings as well as machinery and technologies developed by institutes,
universities, enterprises and farmers over the past years have helped
Vietnamese farmers reduce production costs, but more needs to be done, heard
a seminar held in
From 2006 to 2013,
the
The institute has
also transferred high-yield cassava seedlings to farmers in many provinces,
including Tay Ninh, Binh Phuoc and Binh Thuan.
Up to 90 per cent
out of 300,000ha of the country's total cassava cultivation area are using
cassava strains provided by the institute.
"We are preparing
to launch new seedlings that can resist diseases and offer higher
yields," Vinh told delegates at the seminar, which was organised by the
National Agriculture Extension Centre.
The institute has
also provided high-yield cashew strains to farmers in many provinces, mainly
in Binh Phuoc and Lam Dong, he said.
However, seedling
production cannot meet demand.
Huynh Van Nghiep,
deputy director of the Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta Rice Research Institute, said
rice seedlings developed by the institute were also used in
The institute each
year provides hundreds of certified seedlings to localities, contributing to
increase the area of rice fields using certified seeds from under 10 per cent
in 1999 to more than 34 per cent currently in the Mekong Delta, according to
Nghiep.
In addition, his
institute has conducted research to develop technology and farming methods
that can increase rice productivity and quality in different ecological
systems in the Mekong Delta region.
Phan Huy Thong,
director of the National Agriculture Extension Centre, praised the efforts of
institutes, universities, enterprises and farmers for their work in
developing seedlings, technologies and machinery.
However, many local
companies remain unaware of these technologies as marketing has been weak,
according to Thong.
As a result, they
import technologies rather than use similar products made in
He called on
researchers and businesses to develop closer linkages to improve the
situation.
Nguyen Van Minh,
general secretary of Viet Nam Agricultural Enterprise and Farm Association
suggested that institutes and schools focus more on research to improve
post-harvest and processing technologies to help reduce production costs and improve
product quality.
Technology to
process by-products should also be created to raise farmers' income, they
said.
Duong Minh Hoang,
director of the Soc Trang Province Agricultural Extension Centre, told Viet
Nam News: "I'm interested in new innovations in seedlings and machinery
to mechanise agricultural production. The province will check to see which
technologies are suitable to transfer to local farmers."
Retailers
support tomato growers
Retailers in
Since late last
month, when the harvest season for tomatoes began, many farmers have incurred
losses because of an oversupply.
An agricultural
official in the province said the oversupply had been due to an increase in
Chinese tomato imports and favourable weather conditions had allowed other
areas to plant the vegetable.
Saigon Co.op, owner
of the Co.opmart chain, is paying farmers VND6,000 a kilo, and has also
transported tomatoes to the central and
Nguyen Thanh Nhan,
deputy general director of Saigon Co.op, said the move aimed to help famers
to recover so they could continue the next crop.
An average of 12
tonnes of tomatoes are sold at the outlets every day, and the figure could
reach 16 tonnes a day on the weekend.
As of yesterday,
more than 300 tonnes of tomatoes had been sold via the Saigon Co.op retail
chain.
Big C said it would
buy150 tonnes of tomatoes from farmers and would sell the tomatoes at a cost
price and pay the transport costs to the central and northern markets.
With such
activities, the supermarket expects the volume of tomatoes sold at its 28
outlets to increase by five to six times.
However, such
activities are only short-term measures, according to agricultural experts.
To solve the problem of price drops on bumper crops, linkages between farmers
and businesses in agricultural production should be enhanced, they said.
New rice
model to grow in Ca Mau
The Mekong Delta
province of Ca Mau plans to expand its large-scale rice fields to cover
15,000 hectares by 2015 and 20,000 hectares by 2020, said a provincial
official.
By 2020, average
rice output is expected to grow from the current 5.7 tonnes per hectare to
6.2 tonnes, according to director of the provincial Department of Agriculture
and Rural Development Le Van Su.
Under the plan,
rice will be planted in the area covering U Minh, Tran Van Thoi and Thoi Binh
districts in U Minh Ha region.
In the three years
since it was first implemented, the large-scale rice field model helped
mechanise production and promoted connections between farmers and businesses,
Su said.
Chairman of the
provincial People's Committee Le Dung forecast that local rice farmers would
earn twice as much by 2020 thanks to the new model.
The Mekong Delta,
one of the key regions applying the model and the country's largest rice
granary, comprises 12 provinces and one centrally-run city with a total area
of 40,000 square kilometres and a combined population of 18 million. The
region has been tasked with ensuring the country's food security and aims to
maintain annual output of 24-25 million tonnes of rice, more than half of
which is exported.
M&M
chocolate candies found being sold in District 3 and Tan Phu
Some shops in
district 3 and Tan Phu of
Although
representatives of Big C, Maximark said they stopped selling this production
and C.L.G Company – distributor, in
Doctor Tran Thi
Hoai Huong in
Earlier, on October
10 Food & Safety Department under the ministry of health received warning
from the
Fire
destroys warehouse in HCM City
A fire broke out at
a 1,000sqm-warehouse in
The warehouse
contains a large number of packing material, plastic cans and paint
containers, making it easy for the fire to spread to the whole warehouse.
It took
firefighters four hours to extinguish the fire, forcing the people in several
households nearby to temporarily evacuate the area.
The case is under
investigation.
Women's
Union provides training in Vinh Long
The Vinh Long
Province Women's
The union has at
all levels established many production models for cultivating mushrooms,
making handicrafts, and sewing for women.
Making acupuncture
needles in Mang Thit District's Long My Commune, a business established by
the commune Women's Union, for instance, provides jobs for about 300 women
with an average monthly income of VND2 million (US$95).
Under the model,
women can work either part-time or full-time.
Le Thi Minh Tuyet,
50, of Long Khanh Hamlet said she has been making the needles part-time for
four years and earned VND30,000-50,000 a day.
"My family
breeds livestock for a living. When I am free I do this job and earn extra
money for my children's studies."
Ngo Nguyen Hien
Nhi, chairwoman of the Long My Women's
In the past two
years the province Women's
Women's unions at
the grass-roots levels have, in co-operation with vocational training
centres, taught more than 6,270 women vocational skills like making
handicrafts and sewing for this year. Of them, 5,800 have stable jobs,
according to the Women's
They have also
informed 17,313 women about job vacancies.
Nguyen Thi Minh
Hanh, chairwoman of the province Women's
The union targets
each district creating 1,200-2,000 jobs for women every year, she said.
In the first six
months of this year the province has seen 2,505 households, 874 of them
headed by women, escape poverty, she said.
The poverty rate
has fallen from 7.9 per cent in 2011 to 4.57 per cent, according to the
province People's Committee.
The HCM City
Department of Health this week ordered the Centre for Quality Control of
Food, Drug and Cosmetics to obtain samples and test 332 out of 1,193 drugs
that won bids to supply to hospitals this year following reports about poor
quality of drugs.
The 332 belong to
one of three categories, Nguyen Tan Binh, the department head, said: imported
drugs, those about which some hospitals have complained about side effects,
and those bidding successfully for the first time.
The test results
would be published on the department's website, he added.
But the department
said in a public announcement that there is no evidence that any of the drugs
are substandard and it has got no negative feedback about them from hospitals.
They are all
licensed and so cannot be substandard, it explained.
The tenders were
called for as prescribed in the Bidding Law and Ministry of Health circulars.
Binh called on
hospitals to continue their surveillance of these drugs and immediately
report to the department in the case of problems.
The department has
set up a team of inspectors to regularly check drug plants that win bids to
supply to hospitals to ensure quality, he added.
Authorities
call for measures to prevent highway fatalities
The National
Steering Committee for Traffic Safety has ordered localities to take measures
to reduce traffic accidents along
The move was made
in response to the increase in the number of traffic accidents on the
highway.
The committee
reported that 881 traffic accidents had been reported during the first eight
months of this year, killing 672 people and injuring 599 others.
In the latest case,
three people died when a motorbike collided with a truck last Sunday on the
In the central
province of Quang Nam where a section of the national highway is being
upgraded, traffic accidents leapt by 30 per cent in the first eight months of
this year in comparison with the same period last year, according to local
authorities.
The main reasons
for the accidents include shortcoming in ensuring traffic safety along
construction sties and lack of inspection and punishment for violators,
according to the committee.
The committee urged
the transport ministry to instruct investors of road upgrading projects to
speed up work, abide by regulations ensuring traffic safety, particularly in
installing signal boards and traffic lights and assigning people to divert
traffic around construction work.
Barriers were also
needed to separate the road into lanes to prevent vehicles colliding head-on.
The committee also
said investors who violated safety regulations should be punished.
The
Ebola
response plan and drill prepared
An Ebola response
drill will be held at the Central Hospital for Tropical Diseases in Hanoi on
November 1 and then in three other hospitals in Hanoi, central Thua Thien-Hue
and Ho Chi Minh City, according to the Health Ministry.
On October 24, the
Health Ministry’s council on contagious diseases convened a meeting to give
update on the diagnosis and treatment of Ebola, which has claimed the lives
of over 4.870 people in
The ministry first
issued guidance on the diagnosis and treatment of the disease on August 8,
2014.
Director of the
TOEFL
Junior Challenge 2014 launched
More than 5,600
candidates from 123 secondary schools in
TOEFL Junior
Challenge is an English proficiency contest tailored directly towards
Secondary school students. This contest uses tests with international
standards provided by ETS - TOEFL Junior and TPO (TOEFL Practice Online) as
the evaluation criteria.
This year, IIG
Vietnam – the only official representative of Educational Testing Service
(ETS) is cooperating with 17 Departments of Education and Training in the
country to organize the TOEFL Junior Challenge 2014 on a national scale.
In the first round,
the candidates will take the multiple choice English test – designed by
experts from ETS. In the second round, they will take the TOEFL Junior test
and in the third (final) round they will take the TPO (TOEFL Practice Online)
test.
The regional’s
results will be compared against TOEFL Junior Challenge 2014 round 3’s
results from all the cities in the country to compete for 1 National First
prize, 3 National Second Prizes, and 6 National Third prizes.
Source: VNN/VNA/VNS/VOV/SGT/SGGP/ND
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Thứ Hai, 27 tháng 10, 2014
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