Social News 15/7

Dead VN sailors identified

The Vietnamese Embassy in Malaysia yesterday said it had confirmed the identification of three Vietnamese crewmen who died after inhaling poisonous gas aboard ship on Sunday.

The New Straits Times earlier reported the ship, MV Hi Ram, was 4.1 nautical miles southeast of Tanjung Penyusup on Sunday night when the incident occurred.

Tanjung Sedili District Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency's (MMEA) enforcement chief, Maritime Captain Amran Daud, said the agency received a distress call from the Vietnamese ship at 9.20pm. The MMEA team reached the ship about an hour later to provide emergency assistance.

The deceased were identified as captain Nguyen Duy Thai, chief officer Nguyen Dinh Hung, and master mariner Pham Van Quy. Two other crew members, Nguyen Van Quang and Luu Duc Thanh, were reported to have suffered dizziness.

The 22-year-old Thanh from Hai Duong City is receiving medical treatment at Kota Tinggi Hospital in Johor, Malaysia. Thanh is reportedly recovering, whilst Quang has been moved 60km to KPJ Johor Specialist Hospital, due to the seriousness of his condition.

A representative from the embassy said they were in contact with Malaysian authorities to assure the victims receive the best care.

Rainwater rush in Rach Gia

 

Residents in Kien Giang Province's Rach Gia City scrambled to find any kind of container in sight to help collect yesterday morning's rain.

The pregnant clouds broke a weeks-long drought caused by saline intrusion, but they only offered a brief respite.

The Kien Giang Water Supply and Sewerage Limited Company (Kiwaco) – the main water supplier in the area – said it only had enough water to satisfy local hospitals and residents' daily use for a few days.

Kiwaco Director Nguyen Duc Hien said the main reservoir of the Rach Gia Water Plant has completely dried up. On Monday, Kiwaco had to use 14 water tank trucks to transport water from its 50,000cu.m standby reservoir to supply water to hospitals, schools and some residential areas.

"With the standby reservoir, Kiwaco can only satisfy basic daily water needs for important areas in Rach Gia City for just 10-15 days," said Hien.

Since the start of July, Kiwaco's fresh water supply had been cut off. The Rach Gia – Long Xuyen Canal, which supplies raw water to the company's reservoirs, recorded a high level of salinity.

The water levels in the area's rivers and canals are also lower than last year. With high tides, seawater moved further inland than usual.

Le Xuan Hien, deputy director of the province's Centre for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting, said the salinity of water in the Rach Gia – Long Xuyen Canal has reached 0.7 per cent as of Sunday. Since 1990, the canal's July salinity readings had always been between 0.2-0.3 per cent. This year's number marks a drastic departure.

The weather forecast shows little chance of rain for the rest of this month, so the salinity of water in canals in Rach Gia City and Hon Dat, Tan Hiep, Kien Luong and Giang Thanh districts is expected to increase, Xuan Hien said.

At an urgent meeting on Monday, the deputy chairman of the provincial People's Committee, Mai Van Huynh, asked Kiwaco and other agencies to transport water from other places to the city by barge, fire-fighting vehicles and water tank trucks. He also urged households with bored wells to share water with their neighbours.

Huynh asked relevant bodies to conduct research on mixtures of saline water and reserved fresh water that could be safe for human health and monitor water prices.

"Our daily activities have become pretty difficult. Our family is able to get only a few buckets of water from mobile water tankers, enough for drinking and cooking. Taking a bath seems to be too luxurious at the moment," said local resident Duong Chi Thien.

Boy contracts meningitis after eating infected snails

A 10-year-old boy from U Minh District in the Mekong Delta province of Ca Mau has been hospitalised after contracting meningitis from eating snails infected with the roundworm Angiostrongylus cantonensis.

Last Saturday, the boy was brought to HCM City Paediatrics Hospital No.1's neurology and infectious disease ward, suffering from a high fever, severe headache, nausea and myalgia.

Laboratory tests, including cerebrospinal fluid analysis, blood tests and an MRI showed that he had meningitis.

Pham Thi Oanh, the boy's mother, said that he had eaten baked snail with two other children. The two children vomited immediately but recovered within two days.

"My son's health had been good. But a week ago he said that he felt pain in his neck and he vomited. His health became worse although he had been treated at the district's hospital," she said.

As of yesterday, he still was being treating at the ward, where he is recovering.

"We are not aware of the danger of eating snails. Residents here often catch snails and eat them because the rumour is that snails help treat aches and pains," she said.

Truong Huu Khanh, head of the hospital's neurology and infectious disease ward, said that three or four children this year had been hospitalised at the ward for treatment of meningitis due to Angiostrongylus cantonensis roundworms.

Last year, the ward admitted as many as 30 children, most of whom were from rural areas.

In 2009, the city's Hospital for Tropical Disease treated two young people from Go Vap District who had become ill after eating baked snails.

One of them died, and the other is in a "vegetable state", according to hospital authorities.

Wild snails move on land and are often infected with parasitic worms, including Angiostrongylus cantonensis.

"It is dangerous if they are not cooked well," Khanh said.

According to the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Angiostrongylus is a parasitic roundworm that can cause severe gastrointestinal or central nervous system disease in humans, depending on the species.

"Angiostrongylus cantonensis roundworms cause meningitis and are prevalent in Southeast Asia and tropical Pacific islands. The recognised distribution of the parasite has been increasing over time and infections have been identified in other areas, including Africa, the Caribbean and the US", the CDC's website said.

In summer, children in rural areas often imitate adults and catch snails to eat, Khanh said.

Communication about this issue should be improved in rural areas because residents' awareness about it remains low, he added.

The Ministry of Health's Preventive Health Department said that people should eat well-cooked food and clean vegetables thoroughly before eating them.

If they have a headache, nausea and high fever, they should visit a health facility as soon as possible.

Fire destroys company storage area in Dong Nai

A fire destroyed 500sq.m of a fabric scrap storage area near Highway 51 in the southern Dong Nai Province's Long Thanh District last night.

The fire, which broke out in the storage area belonging to Huynh Ngoc Tran Company at about 6pm and was extinguished early today, also destroyed several houses in the area.

Fortunately, no casualty was reported as there was no one at the site when the fire broke out, a local man said.

Dozens of firefighters with fire-fighting trucks from Long Thanh District's firefighting force were sent to the area immediately after the fire was reported.

The blaze, which caused a temporary traffic jam on Highway 51 last night due to the presence of a large number of local onlookers, was still smouldering this morning, with large plumes of smoke. The firefighters had to continuously spray water to prevent the fire from breaking out again.

Dong Nai Police has started investigating the cause of the fire, and said they would inform the media and the local people soon.

Hospitals to improve health workers' attitude towards patients

The Bach Mai, Viet Duc, Cancer and Paediatrics hospitals have signed a joint commitment to improve health workers' attitude towards patients at a conference today in Ha Noi.

They are the country's first medical facilities to sign such a commitment.

The move is part of the health ministry's plan, launched in April, to improve the satisfaction of patients and the image of the Vietnamese health worker.

"A section of healthcare workers still do not follow professional processes and have inappropriate or negative attitudes towards patients in hospitals," Health Minister Nguyen Thi Kim Tien said at the conference.

Tien said this would badly impact the image of the country's healthcare workers and destroy people's belief in more than 400,000 health workers in the country.

"A code of conduct for health workers, which will be introduced in the healthcare system from the central to the local levels, provides rules of conduct for medical staff towards patients during examination and treatment," Tien said.

The health minister asked all health workers and staff to overcome difficulties and be determined to improve their image.

Under the framework of the plan, the health sector will carry out a series of measures to improve patients' satisfaction in hospitals. A circular on health workers' dress code has been issued within the hospital system nation-wide.

Patients would also be helped by young doctors and volunteers. Mailboxes will be set up at convenient places in hospitals to receive patient's opinions. The health ministry has already established a hotline to collect people's feedback or complaints.

Last week, the ministry, in collaboration with the Viet Nam Youth Union and the Young Physician Association, launched a campaign to help patients in hospitals.

The health ministry statistics showed that the ministry's hotline received more than 8,400 calls during the first half of this year. Among them, 388 were complaints about inappropriate behaviour of health workers in medical facilities, or 12 per cent of the total calls, a decrease of seven per cent compared to 19 per cent in the same period last year.

Bac Giang: Sanatorium presented to AO/dioxin victims

“Bau Oi” charitable fund and the printing company of the Vietnam People’s Army General Staff presented a sanatorium to Agent Orange/dioxin victims in northern Bac Giang province on July 14.

Beginning in 2012, the house was constructed inside the Phu Quy Care and Vocational Training Centre at a total cost of 2 billion VND (91,660 USD), including 865 million VND (39,660 USD) sourced from the “Bau Oi” fund and 570 million VND (26,130 USD) from the printing company.

The facility will support the detoxification and rehabilitation of dioxin victims through cultural and sporting activities.

Speaking at the handover ceremony, Vice President of the Vietnam Association of Victims of Agent Orange/dioxin Lieutenant General Hoang Chau Son hailed the new facility as a great support for living dioxin victims and hoped sponsors and donations would continue to help them have a better life.

Bac Giang province is home to about 4,000 war veterans exposed to Agent Orange/dioxin, most of whom struggle to make ends meet every day.-

Vietnam urged to add population issues into development strategies

It is time for Vietnam to shift its focus to incorporating population factors into development strategies, an official told a workshop in Hanoi on July 14.

Despite important successes in population efforts, Vietnam still faces problems with population aging, birth gender imbalance and rapid migration and urbanisation, said Deputy Head of the Party Central Committee’s Economic Commission Dinh Van Cuong.

Ritsu Nacken, acting Chief Representative of the UN Population Fund, called upon Vietnam to issue timely and proper policies to take advantage of the abundant workforce that is projected to decrease beyond 2040.

According to foreign experts, Vietnam’s birth rates will continue falling as a result of improving incomes, education and urbanisation, adding that it is a chance for Vietnam’s population policies to assist married couples in their reproductive decision.

Participants also discussed issues surrounding population, demographic trends and their impacts on sustainable development.

Recommendations at the event are expected to lay a foundation for a comprehensive population and development policy that tackles challenges and utilises opportunities brought about by Vietnam’s changing population.

Tra Vinh: Levees benefit four communes

The People’s Committee of southern Tra Vinh province has requested the provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development urgently complete construction of a levee on the north side of Tong Long River by the end of this year.

The levee, nearly 4,000 metres in length and 3 metres in width, will serve flood control and saltwater intrusion prevention at a total cost of 10 billion VND (458,600 USD).

Once finished, the project will protect 300 hectares of farm land, benefiting 150 local households living along the north bank of the river in Ham Giang, Ham Tan, Thanh Son and Kim Son communes of Tra Cu district.

Many of the households managed to build small river dykes themselves but failed to protect their rice fields due to strong floods, said Kim Cua, a farmer from Ca Sang Hamlet, Ham Giang district.

Some 96 local families have donated land for the levee construction so far.

Quang Nam focuses on modern rural area development

Authorities at all levels in the central province of Quang Nam have devised concrete measures to accelerate modern rural area building in 2015, said Le Muon from the Steering Committee of the provincial programme.

The locality has mobilised various resources for upgrading and building basic infrastructure facilities, particularly in communes striving to be recognised as modern rural areas this year.

According to Huynh Tan Duc, Director of the provincial Department of Agricultural and Rural Development, publicity campaigns have been conducted across the province to raise awareness of the programme among communities, especially in remote areas.

The campaigns also help facilitate access to information about outstanding individuals and units as role models, and promote effective and successful projects in the locality.

The province has strengthened their management and monitoring of the programme implementation process to address difficulties facing rural areas.

As many as 14 communes in the province have met all 19 criteria of the programme so far, accounting for 6.8 percent of the total targeted communes. Ten were recognised last year.

In 2015, the province aims to have another 46 communes, Phu Ninh district and Dien Ban town recognised as modern rural areas.

The national target programme on building new-style rural areas, initiated by the Government, sets 19 criteria to boost rural regions nationwide.

The list includes the development of infrastructure, the improvement of production capacity, environmental protection and the promotion of cultural values.

Birth rate decreases, gender equality increases: Experts

According to the Ministry of Health's General Office for Population & Family Planning’s latest statistics, the birth rate has decreased in big cities and among young couples in child-bearing age. Worse, the ratio of boys to girls at birth in Vietnam has increased causing a severe gender imbalance.

A report of the Bureau for Population Family Planning in Ho Chi Minh City shows that total number of newborn babies in first six months of 2015 was 21,660, a decrease of 3,610 or 14 percent compared to the same period last year.

Tran Van Tri, head of the Bureau, fretted that the birth rate will decline in the future and badly influence to the city’s population structure.

Meanwhile, Nguyen Van Tan, deputy head of the General Office for Population Family Planning said that there is an average decrease from 6.4 babies in 1960 to 2.1 in 2001. It means that a couple in big cities has 1.77 babies.

Moreover, females in HCMC has 1.35 babies in 2014; accordingly, Mr. Tan warned if the birth rate does not increase, it will lead to a shortage of laborers, population ageing, causing disadvantages for social and economic development.

However, some population experts said that if the birth rate increases again, by 2050, the country’s total population  will be 130-140 million.

Another matter in the country's population growth is the gender imbalance. In its latest report on the World Population Day ( on July 11), showed that there has been severe gender equality. In first four months of the year, the ratio of boys to girls at birth in Vietnam was 112.6 males born for every 100 females while it was 112.2 males over 100 females last year.

According to a survey conducted in 2009, the rate of boys to girls was112.5 born males to 100 females and there is just a slight imbalance between urban and countryside districts. However, a study in 2014 showed that the rate of boys to girls in rural districts increased drastically with 113.1 males born and 100 females while it was 110.1/ 100 males and females in big cities.

The gender imbalance currently is due to young parents have taken many pressures of psychology, besides they have chance to access gender selection service, said Le Canh Nhac, deputy head of the Planning Office.

The Ministry of Health added that the problem is because of the population and family planning sector have not worked well. The state fund for the sector has remained unchanged while there is no foreign fund for the sector.

As a result, the Ministry of Health asked local governments to pay more attention to population and family planning as well as supervise gender selection to issue penalties on medical facilities to provide such services.

Fake nutritional products flood markets

Markets for nutritional supplements are mushrooming with thousands of different products. In addition, products are sold not only through multi-level marketing but also currently via pharmacies and supermarkets or even in grocery stores. However, it is alarming that the sale of fake and substandard products mixed with high quality ones seems to be on the rise.

Since early June, market management forces in Hanoi have inspected trading of nutritional supplements in pharmacies in the city and detected 82 violations. Inspectors have fined hundreds of millions Vietnamese dong.

Lately, many fake nutritional supplements have been detected causing public concern. For instance, on June 24, a special team from the Ministry of Public Security in coordination with the police department's economic crime investigation division (PC46), police in Ho Chi Minh City and some related agencies uncovered 60 containers of fake cosmetics and dietary supplements imported from China but disguised as from the US in a warehouse of Bao Khang Company in Phan Van Tri Street in Go Vap District

Before, PC 46 and police officers in Hanoi also seized around 20 tons of low quality nutritional supplements.

At the Medical Development Investment and Chemical VQTech in Ha Dong District of Hanoi. Most of products are made under brand name of Australian producer Costar. The fake products including Costar Royal Jelly, Omega 3, sheep Placentra and essence of Baby Sheep are sold like a hot cake in markets

Worse, Medical Development Investment and Chemical VQTech director Tran Quynh Nhu, 28, opened the company and registered quality at the Food Administration of Vietnam under the Ministry of Health to legalize the business of nutritional supplements.  Yet later, director Nhu imported material with unclear indication of origin to make products and distribute to supermarkets in Hanoi to earn profits.

In reality, markets of nutritional supplements are disorderly. Products are made from domestically materials to imported materials and during the manufacturing, producers have mixed many chemicals and pharmaceutical materials especially banned ones which caused dangerous side-effects.

For instance, lately, the Food Administration of Vietnam asked to remove three super Fat Burner, Maxi Gold and Esmeralda to reduce fat distributed by Van Son Company in HCMC as they contain banned Sibutramine substance.

This issue seems on an upward trend in the Southeast Asian and many countries in the world, said the Administration.

“Narrow The Gap” to finance environmental protection initiatives

HCMC-based LIN Center for Community Development has launched a Narrow the Gap Community Fund from now until September 2015 to address environmental challenges in HCMC and nearby provinces.

According to the organizer, Narrow The Gap challenges the local community to explore the problem. Local non-profit organizations will propose solutions, then experts and community members will vote for the best projects. It is expected that six nonprofits will vie for a spot in the final round on August 27. The results will be announced at the annual Narrow the Gap Community Event on September 26.

Narrow the Gap Community Fund expects to raise at least US$15,000 from individuals and companies to support three projects that will improve and/or protect the environment. One of the main activities of the fundraising campaign is 100GreenDays where people can both develop environmental protection habits and contribute financially to the Narrow the Gap Community Fund.

Starting from July 5, Narrow the Gap Fund has proposed weekly acts that everybody can do to protect the environment. For each act completed and shared on social media, corporate sponsors will donate an amount of money to the Narrow the Gap Fund for the environment.

The latest Action of the week from July 13-19 is Walk/Bike/Take Bus/Share A Ride. The sponsor Vinausteel will contribute VND200,000 for every photo shared on Facebook or Instagram that demonstrates an effort to reduce emissions from the vehicle.

People who are interested in the program are advised give a “Like” on the Facebook page of Narrow the Gap Fund or they can make a donation to the fund via www.globalgiving.org.

LIN Center for Community Development is a non-governmental and supportive not-for-profit organization (NPO) mandated to connect donors who care about various causes to collectively make a difference. In 2014, over 200 individuals also contributed to LIN’s Narrow the Gap Community Fund which focused on improving access to quality education.

The 2014 campaign resulted in investments in three projects, a handbook entitled “The Basics of Visual Disability”, training for 500 young visually unimpaired people and 200 visually disabled people and creation of communication products, all of which will help raise public awareness about visually impaired people that can bring them an independent life.

Free herbal tea for hospital patients and passers-by

Twice a day, Dinh Thi Phung, a 65-year-old resident in Hanoi’s Hoan Kiem District, carries a large pot of nuoc voi (a type of tea boiled from leaves and buds of Cleistocalyx operculatus) on her motorbike to Hospital K in the same district, and offers it for free to patients and relatives outside the hospital.

Months ago, Phung’s appearance together with her nuoc voi pot in front of the hospital surprised many people. But now she has become a familiar face there.

She has to get up early in the morning to boil nuoc voi and wait for it to cool down before she heads for the hospital. No matter whether it is sunny or rainy, she always shows up in a timely manner to distribute the free herbal tea.

She has been doing this social work for months even though she is busy taking care of her husband who has been sick since he suffered a stroke several years ago.

Taxi, container truck firms told to reveal data

Provincial transport authorities have been urged to force transport firms to transfer data from the black boxes in their taxis and container trucks to the Directorate for Roads of Vietnam from Wednesday.

The Directorate for Roads said the revelation of data would help better control speeds of vehicles and behaviors of drivers, and identify causes of accidents.

Government Decree 86/2014/ND-CP on transport business and conditions taxi cabs and container trucks must have been equipped with black boxes before July 1 and the devices must be on when the vehicles are in operation.

However, several taxi operators had missed the deadline for installation of black boxes.

Last month, the HCMC Taxi Association proposed the Ministry of Transport reschedule the plan until early March 2016 and the ministry then asked the Government to not fine taxis without black boxes to give taxi firms more time to finish installation of data recorders and receipt printers. The proposed delay is still awaiting approval.

Regarding container trucks, those delaying data transfers will be subject to serious punitive sanctions, including withdrawing business licenses from enterprises with more than 20% of their vehicles violating the rule.

In April 2015, the Vietnam Automobile Transport Association (VATA) requested the National Assembly’s Economic Committee to consider handing over public services to industry associations to reduce pressure on State agencies.

Nguyen Van Thanh, president of VATA, said transport enterprises should be allowed to manage built-in monitoring devices and heavy fines will be slapped on violators.

Source: VNA/VNS/VOV/SGT/SGGP/TT/TN/Dantri