Hike in medicine prices causes anxiety

The continuous hike of medicine prices is a cause of much anxiety to patients as well as to hospital doctors who fear that pharmaceutical companies may stop supplies.

Pharmacy assistants in wholesale markets in Hai Ba Trung Street in district 1, Su Van Hanh Street in district 10 and Thuan Kieu Street in district 5 in Ho Chi Minh City are all perplexed at having to justify the price hike to customers.

The price speculation has also caused a shortage of imported medications, especially those from France, Sweden and Korea.

Distributors have not provided drugs to markets as they wait for the Drug Administration of Vietnam to approve an increase in medicine prices.

However, despite no formal announcement of price rise, drug rates have soared dramatically. Various antibiotics cost 10 percent more and French made blood pressure medicines have surged from VND540, 000 to VND590, 000.

Hospitals are worried even though they have signed contracts with pharmaceutical companies. Hospital People 115 said it had urged a pharmaceutical supplier to give medicines under the contract and Nguyen Tri Phuong hospital was constantly reviewing the drug rates in order to keep the HCMC Department of Health informed in case there was a hike and distributors disagreed to provide drugs.

HCMC People’s Committee convened a meeting on March 1 with pharmaceutical companies to stabilizing drug prices. The Department of Health and Saigon Pharmaceutical Company Limited (Sapharco) were ordered to provide enough drugs and maintain prices of necessary drugs. The City People’s Committee planned to set up a fund to stabilize drug prices.

Dr. Pham Khanh Phong Lan, deputy head of the Department of Health said there was an enormous change in the prices of foreign medications, warning that pharmaceutical companies which were awarded tenders should not breach the contract or else they would face harsh penalties.

Lovelorn man burns woman for unrequited love

A female worker from northern Nghe An Province was set on fire Wednesday afternoon by a man who fell in love with her but failed to win her heart.

Loud shouts and high columns of smoke from a guest house in Nghi Khanh Commune, Nghi Loc District drew people to a scene where Nguyen Thi Thu Hien, 21, was trying to extinguish the fire covering all her body with a blanket.

Nguyen Manh Dong, 26, who had torched the woman with petrol moments ago was calmly standing and watching the flame.

Hien’s neighbors broke the door, held Dong back, and took her to hospital. She got large-scale burns on her face, chest, abdomen, and legs so the neighbors sent her to Hanoi for treatment right afterwards.

Dong told police later that he just met Hien after getting back to Nghe An for Tet holiday from Ho Chi Minh City and then expressed his love for her within a short time.

Hien turned him down, saying the two needed longer time to know more about each other.

Buying a bottle of petrol and a box of matches, the man then came to Hien’s place to ask why she did not love him.

Finding no reasonable answer, he locked the woman in the room and spread the petrol on her body. After failing to set fire on her in his first attempt, Dong pushed her to the room’s corner and burned the poor woman.

The man is now facing charges of murder.

Car hit two police to death

A fatal road accident occurring in front of a police station in Hanoi’s Tay Ho district Friday afternoon killed two police, the capital’s police reported.

According to the initial source, a flying squad from Hanoi’s Mobile Police Regiment including senior lieutenant Le Van Sinh, 32, first lieutenant Pham Xuan Duong, and two other soldiers Phuong Van Son, 22, and Tran Van Khoa were carrying out a patrol over the Thuy Khue Street.

They were suddenly hit by a car bearing plate 29A-09510 driven by Nguyen Huy Tung, 27, hailing from Tay Ho District when they arrived at a private house No. 23, killing Son on the spot while Sinh’s leg(s) were crushed by the accident.

Local police immediately sent senior lieutenant Le Van Sinh to Viet Duc hospital for emergency treatment but due to severely wounds, doctors failed to save his life.

Car driver Nguyen Huy Tung has been detained for violating road traffic laws, said police.

Police are investigating.

Ca pass clogged with traffic accident for 4 hours

Traffic was held up for four hours on National Highway 1A in Phu Yen central province’s Ca mountain pass after a truck bearing plate 11K-5099 heading for the north crashed into a bus 77H-4990 in the opposite direction at 11:00 am today.

Fortunately, no any casualty was reported, according to police.

The local police were immediately mobilized to the scene to handle the gridlock.

However, due to heavy rain, it was not until 3:00 pm the same day that the traffic jam was put under control.

In other news, around 3:00 am this morning, a truck carrying 8 tons of iron overturned on National Highway 25 at Hoa An commune, Phu Hoa ward, also in Phu Yen province, slightly injuring two people on board.

The cause for the accident was a puncture.

Medicine prices up sharply in Hanoi

Inspectors conducting an inspection at Ngoc Khanh pharmaceutical wholesale center in Hanoi yesterday The prices of about 240 kinds of pharmaceuticals in Hanoi have increased by up to 34 percent over the past two weeks, the local Health Department reported after an inspection yesterday.

As many as 21 out of 31 local pharmaceutical providers had submitted their notices of medicine price adjustment to the health department, Nguyen Viet Cuong, Chief Inspector of the Department, said.

Most blamed the price rise on higher cost of imported materials after the rise of interbank rate of US dollar against dong.

The increase rates in their notices were 3-30 percent, but during the inspection, the inspector found Cavinton F (compressed tablet /10mg), being sold 34 percent higher.

This medicine is sold at the branch of the Ben Tre Pharmaceutical JSC, which also sells Lidocain for VND115,500 per jar, up 31 percent from VND82,200.

The Hanoi branch of the Central One-member Limited Liability Company II increased the prices of 13 kinds of medicines by 10-15.38 percent. The branch attributed such increases to higher transport cost and the adjusted interbank rate.

The prices of medicines sold by the branch of Domesco were also raised by 8-21 percent for 14 kinds of medicines.

At the Sao Thai Duong JSC, prices of 9 kinds of medicines increased by 14.9-25 percent. The company blamed the rise on higher expenses on wage, cost of sale and materials.

Similarly, Trapharco raised prices of 3 kinds of medicines by 17-25 percent, attributing the hike to higher cost of materials and the stronger US dollar against dong.

Vietnam’s kidnapped sailors made it home

Three Vietnamese sailors held hostage by Somalia pirates for 9 months came back safe and sound Thursday.

Tran Van Tri from Nghe An Province, Nguyen Tien Anh from Ha Tinh and Truong Van Hieu from Kon Tum Province came back home from Sri Lanka Thursday.

The three were working on a Taiwanese fishing boat named Tai Yuan 277 in Indian Ocean when the ship was attacked by Somali pirates last May.

Tai Yuan 277 was then used by the pirates to attack other ships until it was set free near Sri Lankan waters when the pirates managed to capture a larger ship.

It docked in Sri Lanka on February 2 with all 28 crew members including three from Vietnam, nine from China, seven from Kenya, four from Indonesia, three from the Philippines, and two from Mozambique.

The Vietnamese sailors were bought air tickets to Vietnam and given a US$ 400 stipend each by the ships’ owners.

The Tourist, Trade and Labor Export Joint Stock Company which sent these sailors abroad said they would work with its Taiwanese partner to terminate the sailors’ contracts.

Vinpearl Land to ban smoking

Though “No Smoking” signs will be installed throughout the park, there will also be separate areas for smokers, said CEO of Vinpearl Joint Stock Company Nguyen Trong Hien.

Hieu said turning Vinpearl Land into a smoking-free destination was part of an effort to promote a “green and clean environment” as well as an activity to welcome the 2011 National Tourism Year.

The national campaign, themed “Exotic Beaches and Island Tourism,” is being hosted by the Southern Central Coast where Nha Trang is situated.

Since it first opened in August 2006, Vinpearl Land has attracted more than 4 million tourists – nearly 1 million last year alone.

Can Tho police apologize for arresting wrong man

In a drug bust that went wrong, officers took in an innocent bystander, damaged his motorbike, and allegedly assaulted him.

The Can Tho police publicly apologized Thursday to a man they arrested wrongly last month in a drug bust that went awry and promised to compensate him for the damage they caused to his motorbike.

On February 19 a police drug squad together with officers from the hotline 113 and Ninh Kieu District tried to capture a drug dealer in a café on Nguyen Van Cu Street after getting a tip-off.

There they found Ngu The Boi and took him in.

After interrogating him, they discovered they had the wrong man and released Boi, Ha Huu Ngai, head of the city police, said.

When officers went to his house to tender the apology, some witnesses expressed displeasure at the fact that the police had assaulted Boi during the arrest.

Two rare gibbons seized in Binh Duong

The white-cheeked gibbons seized on March 2 Two white-cheeked gibbons, the kind of extremely rare and precious animal, were seized by relevant agencies in southern Binh Duong province yesterday.

The seizure was made by the local Environmental Police and the Forestry Control Department at Dai Hai Trade and Industrial Co., Ltd.

Of the two gibbons, one is male with black hair, weighing 3 kg; and the other, female with yellow hair, 5 kg.

The company’s owner¸ Le Trung Hieu, failed to provide the agencies with any evidence to prove the origin of the two animals.

The two agencies made a report on the case, seizing both the animals and their cage.

White-cheeked gibbons have a scientific name as Nomascus (Hylobates), whose habitat is Northern and North Central Vietnam, said Nguyen Thanh Hai, a member of the department.

Such gibbons are domestically classified into Group 1B, which is protected against any illegal capture, breeding or trading or hunting.

Five fishermen to be sent back to Philippines

Five Philippine fishermen rescued by their Vietnamese counterparts off the coast of central Phu Yen province will be handed over to the Philippino Embassy in Vietnam this afternoon.

The handover has come about from an agreement yesterday between the Embassy, the provincial Border Guard Command, and other relevant agencies of Vietnam.

The Embassy’s representative, Joe Ban A. Sayong, expressed his gratitude to the Border Guard Command and local fishermen involved in the rescue.

The five fishermen were saved by the fishing boat owned by Mr. Le Nhan, a Phu Yen resident, in a sea area near the Song Tu Tay Island, part of the Truong Sa (Spartly) Islands on January 31.

They were found exhausted floating on the sea when they were rescued.

They were taken by Nhan’s boat to the Border Guard Command office for care and they have since stayed there waiting to return home.

All the fishermen have recuperated during their stay.

According to the Philippino Coast Guard, the rescued fishermen are crew members of a fishing vessel that capsized and sank on January 30.

Breast implant at beauty salon kills woman

A woman in the northern city of Lao Cai died a week after undergoing cosmetic breast surgery.

Relatives are seeking police investigation into the death of Nguyen Thi K.V (born in 1976) of Duyen Hai ward, Lao Cai.

According to the victim’s family, V took a breast implant surgery at a beauty salon at Pho Moi ward.

She was taken to the Lao Cai No. 1 General Hospital right after getting strange health symptoms on February 19.

Two days later, she was transferred to Bach Mai Hospital in Hanoi.

She died on February 24.

Police are collecting evidence.

Blaze kills two at central mattress shop

A big fire was reported early today at the Bich Nhung mattress shop in the central highlands city of Bao Loc in Lam Dong province, killing two people and burning all products on display to ashes.

Local firefighters were mobilized to the scene located at kiosk 4-5, Le Thi Pha Street, Bao Loc trade center to extinguish the fire.

Two victims were later identified as shop owners Nguyen Manh Huyen, 77, and his wife Tran Thi Loan, 67, who were stuck.

The initial cause of the incident is due to a short electrical circuit, police said.

One day earlier, a fire was reported to hit a private house No. 61 on Le Hong Phong Street, also in Bao Loc city. Fortunately, no human casualty was reported this time.

Dak Lak ready for coffee festival

The Central Highlands province of Dak Lak is ready for the third
coffee festival scheduled for March 10-15, Vice Chairman of the
provincial People’s Committee Tran Hieu affirmed.

“All preparations for the third Buon Ma Thuot coffee festival have
completed,” he said at a press briefing on March 1.

An opening ceremony will take place at Buon Ma Thuot city’s square.
It will be followed by street festivals, including lion dance, elephant
march and gong performance.

During the festival, an exhibition with 600 booths will be held to
introduce Vietnam ’s coffee products.

An international workshop on sustainable development for Buon Ma
Thuot coffee will also be held with the participation of representatives
from coffee exporting and importing countries like Brazil , Columbia ,
Indonesia and Ethiopia .

Futures transaction is expected to be launched for the first time in
the province’s coffee trading floor.

Besides, the festival includes a series of cultural and art
activities, making it an unique attraction.

The festival has freshly been bolstered to the national level under a
decision by the Prime Minister in an attempt to turn Buon Ma Thuot city
into a global hub of coffee.

City kindergartens to have hi-tech toys

The proposal to universalize pre-school education in Ho Chi Minh City
also envisages having high-tech equipment like digital toys, video
games, and computers in classes.

Besides, children will be taught words and numbers.

The City has said it will provide enough teachers for pre-schools and
offer them competitive salaries.

A sum of VND2.7 trillion (US$130.7 million) will be earmarked for
three tasks: building class and other rooms in pre-schools; buying
equipment, teaching aids, and toys; and training 4,732 teachers.

By 2013 kindergarten students will stay in school the whole day have a
new curriculum.

The City People’s Committee is considering building more
kindergartens with qualified teachers and other supervisory staff near
industrial parks and export processing zones to meet workers’ needs.

More than half of HCMC buses in bad condition

The bus services in Ho Chi Minh City have not meet up with the
requirements of techniques, environment and customer services in spite
of the city authorities’ management programs.

There are more than 3,000 buses on the street of the city, but most
of them are aging. Statistics from the Department of Traffic and
Transport HCMC show more than half of the amount need to be replaced as
they could not meet up the pollution standards.

The number of passengers, meanwhile, is increasing sharply, reaching
the rate of around 1.3 million per day.

Therefore, the city bus service is facing many issues including aging
buses and overloading. Passengers complaint they had to jostle each
other and suffer impolite attitudes of drivers. The disabled, old people
and pregnant women are not safe when traveling by buses.

Bus drivers blamed overloading for making buses aging and damaged.
They also said the buses were not put into regular maintenances. Thus,
they easily caused serious accidents when they have technical problems.

To curb the issue, the HCMC authorities planned to replace old buses
with new ones, while waiting for metro projects to finish in the next
5-10 years.

The Department of Traffic and Transport HCMC has submitted the
People’s Committee an investment project, which propose to add 1,680 new
buses to the city in the next five years.

Current buses are set to be replaced with smaller ones, which will be
suitable for narrow streets with heavy traffics of the city. According
to the project, new buses will meet up with gasoline emission
requirements, with safe doors and air conditioners. Bus drivers and
staffs will be trained in customer service skills.

The HCMC People’s Committee also allowed bus project investors to
borrow 80-70 percent of the project’s total investment from lenders in
seven years. The total amount of the loan can be up to VND301 billion
(US$15 million)

In related news, Hanoi currently needs about $10 billion to develop
its commuter infrastructure in the next four years, according to the
director of the capitol’s Department of Transportation.

The city will make official development assistance loans, issue
bonds, and employ foreign investment plans like build-transfer to rally
the funding, Nguyen Quoc Hung told Vietnam News Agency.

Hanoi has planned several major transportation projects, including
beltways, suburban roads, and highways. It will also invest in a new bus
systems as well as related management systems.

Hydropower plants in highland halt operations

Seven hydropower plants in the Central Highland province of Gia Lai
have ceased operations due to water shortage.

They include Thac Ba, Ia Hlop, Ia Krel, Ia Kha, Ia Muer, Dak Lop and
Ia Rung.

Ayun Pa Thermoelectricity Plant is expected to close by May due to
fuel shortage.

The national power supply allocated to Gia Lai Province for February
was insufficient, with the supply reducing by over 123,000 kWh every
day.

It is predicted that drought conditions are expected to last longer.
Hence, the Gia Lai Power Company will reduce power supply by 5-8 percent
in March and then a further 10-12 percent during the following three
months.

Da Nang to increase tourist information machines

The People’s Committee of the central coastal city of Da Nang has
allowed the Department of Culture, Sport and Tourism to go ahead and
install an additional 10 tourist information machines in the city.

The machines with touch-screen computers will provide necessary
information in Vietnamese and English to visitors to Da Nang City.

They will be located at public places including the Da Nang
International Airport, Ba Na cable car station, Big C supermarket, Bach
Dang hotel, Champa Museum, Ngu Hanh Son (The Marble Mountains), Dong
Seaside Park, Trung Vuong Theater, the central bus station and Da Nang
Hotel.

There were already 5 tourist information machines installed in
resorts and supermarkets in the city.

Shops offer Women’s Day discounts

This year’s inflation may be a dampener on International Women’s Day, but many supermarkets and centres in HCM City have announced sales and promotions to attract ladies back to the shops.

There were considerable savings for buying essential goods on this occasion, Phu Nu newspapers reported.

Big C supermarket network has launched two programmes from March 2 to 20. One programme titled Ton vinh ve dep Viet (Honour Vietnamese beauty) is offering a discount of 5-50 per cent on 1,000 items for women.

Another programme, titled Gia re chua tung thay (Dirt cheap never seen before), discounts 420 items such as fish sauce, monosodium glutamate, cooking oil, instant noodle, confectionery and processing cookingstuff by 10-50 per cent.

At Co.op Mart supermarkets, 800 items including fresh and processed produce, household utensils, fashion clothes, textile and garments are also discounted at 40 per cent until March 20.

Co.op Mart has organised a promotional programme titled Rang ngoi ve dep Viet (Shining Vietnamese Beauty) from February 25 to March 10 with discounts of 40 per cent on 300 items and beauty care gifts.

Vinatex Mart has discounts of 5-40 per cent for textile products, garments and clothes for March 6-8.

Zen Plaza trade centre has a 10-30 per cent off fashion sale and half price on garments on the fourth floor. Customers will receive gift vouchers March 4-13.

Vera underwear brand has launched a special promotion for women during March. Purchases of VND400,000 (US$20) and VND700,000 ($35) will receive vouchers of VND50,000 ($2.50) and VND100,000 ($5) off respectively on the next purchase.

For three days from March 5-7 during happy hour, 12pm-1pm and 6pm-7pm, save money with discounts of 30 per cent for Vera Just Relax products and 20 per cent off Vera Luxury, and Vera Feminine products.

At Nhut Luan shop in District 1, more than 300 textiles and materials for ao dai and veston will be reduced by 30 per cent on March 5-8.

Thien Hoa Home Appliances Centre from now to March 8 has over 6,000 items including cellphones, DVDs, pressure cookers, juicers, irons and fans for the same special price of VND183,000 ($9.15) at 10-11am and 6-7pm.

Phu Nhuan Jelwelry Joint Stock Co launched a special PNJ silver collection with flower and fruit designs for VND200,000-1 million ($10-50) per product. Discounts of 10 per cent are also available for coloured stones and 15 per cent off PNJ silver.

Kinh Do Bakery has a cream cake collection called Mon qua yeu thuong (Love present) for Women’s Day, buyers will also receive a box of chocolates.

Some hotels and restaurants have got 10 per cent discounts on food and beverage programmes for women’s day.

The Grand Hotel in District 1 has Buffet ngay cua phai dep (Buffet day for women) for VND199,000 ($9.95) for adults and VND149,000 ($7.45) for children. Golden Palace restaurant has launched a buffet for VND170,000 ($8.5) to VND350,000 ($17.5) per person.

Dong Khanh restaurant has a dinner buffet at 6-9:30 pm for VND199,000 ($9.95) for adult and VND139,000 ($6.95) for children.

Oscar, Liberty and Bat Dat hotels; and Binh Quoi and Tan Cang tourism areas have special buffet programmes with prices from VND170,000-250,000 ($8.5-12.5) per ticket.

UN provides $2.7m to manage forests

The UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) signed an agreement with the Vietnamese Government yesterday, committing itself to a technical assistance partnership to develop the country’s capacity in forest resources assessment.

The agreement launched the National Forest Assessment (NFA) project, a US$2.7 million project financed through FAO’s forest co-operation programme with the Finnish government. Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Hua Duc Nhi co-signed the project document with the FAO representative in Viet Nam Yuriko Shoji.

According to FAO, the timing of this assistance is critical, as Viet Nam will soon need to prepare a forest assessment system that not only generates data for domestic planning and monitoring purposes, but also meets international standards and requirements as stipulated by the Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation – Plus (REDD+) programme through the UN Framework Convention for Climate Change.

FAO’s assistance is intended to improve the quality and scope of forestry information, including generation of data on parameters that will be required under REDD+, with particular emphasis on monitoring the dynamics of change in land use and surveying vegetation resources outside forests. It also plans to enhance the capacity of the Forest Inventory and Planning Institute and Viet Nam Forestry Administration and to introduce new and appropriate technologies.

Viet Nam will gain accurate information on the importance of forests and vegetation, which will be used to support decisions aimed at boosting the country’s social and economic development and protecting the environment.

Tech-savvy kids aid rice farmers through Japanese web project

A new programme seeks to use tech-savvy children as intermediaries to help poorly educated farmers in the Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta draw on Japanese agricultural expertise.

The Youth Meditated Communication – Viet Nam (YMC-Viet) project, inaugurated on Thursday in HCM City, has signed on 30 farmers’ children aged between 11 and 15 from Tra On District, Vinh Long Province.

They have been trained to use mobile phones and computers to take photos of fields, crops, and others, measure temperature, humidity, and other crop data, report questions from the farmers, and upload them all in the system.

The system will automatically translate the information from Vietnamese to English and Japanese and send them to Japan for experts’ consideration.

When there are replies from any of the 15 experts at six universities and research institutes, the children will carry out the process in reverse.

The project will be piloted through this month.

“The project will encourage Viet Nam to deploy the latest and most modern technologies in agriculture,” Trieu Van Hung, head of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) ’s Science, Technology and Environment Department, told the inaugural ceremony.

The project involves more than 50 experts from the Japanese Government, non-profit organisation Pangaea, universities and institutes, and companies like NTT Communications Corporation.

“After the pilot ends, we will have plans to expand,” Masato Gato, president of NTT, said.

The project, funded by Japan, will cost 76 million Japanese yen (US$600,000)