LookAtVietnam – Legislators and members of the public questioned HCM City officials, including heads of some key departments, about cooking safety, epidemics, and environmental pollution on the second day of a televised People’s Council meeting on July 8.

Vo Van Sen, a People’s Council member, urged the Department of Health to name a date when it would complete issuing certificates to food suppliers and restaurants, especially in markets. (Photo: VNN)

Nguyen Van Chau, head of the Department of Health, replied that his agency did not have enough staff to monitor food safety, adding there are only 30 food safety inspectors for the entire city.

Other countries have a large number of inspectors, he said. Bangkok; for instance, has 5,000 while the US has the Food and Drug Administration overseeing food safely.

“It is unfair that the city has more than 2,000 construction inspectors and just a few for the food industry,” he said.

HCM City would establish a bureau for food safety centres at the district level, he said, calling on other departments and agencies to co-operate to improve food safety.

Vo Van Sen, a People’s Council member, urged the Department of Health to name a date when it would complete issuing certificates to food suppliers and restaurants, especially in markets.

Only 60 per cent of canteens based in industrial parks are certified while at Xom Cui Market in District 8, only 20 per cent of food stands are licensed, he said.

Drug quality and Good Pharmaceutical Practices (GPP) standards were also on the meeting agenda. Sen said the city has done well in ensuring hospitals and private pharmacies adopt GPP standards.

But he expressed the fear that drugstores not adopting GPP would edge those that do out of the market because of the costs involved and called for offering incentives to the former.

Chau replied that his department has worked with the Ministry of Health to ensure that health insurance card-holders have to buy from GPP drugstores .

Chau promised his department would try harder to fight the super flu pandemic.

Delegates expressed their anger at the rampant environmental pollution, especially the serious pollution and huge swarms of flies plaguing the Da Phuoc Garbage Dump in Binh Chanh district.

Waste of funds

Delegate Le Thuong Man said the city is paying the Viet Nam Waste Solution Company more than VND900 million (US$50,000) a day to collect and treat 3,000 tonnes of rubbish, much higher price than other rubbish-dump operators, adding it was a waste of funds since the company is not treating the rubbish to compost as promised.

Dao Anh Kiet, head of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment, who was in the firing line for much of the environmental problems, admitted the operator has failed to classify rubbish at source despite several years of trial earlier.

Although environmental protection has improved, it has failed to keep up with the requirement. The city has moved 1,349 polluting factories to suburbs, he said, adding 38 of the remaining 53 are also on their way out. The chairwoman of the city People’s Council, Pham Phuong Thao, requested Kiet for a written reply on Da Phuoc Garbage Dump problem.

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News