LookAtVietnam – Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has decided to form a state-level scientific council to assess the state of President Ho Chi Minh’s body.

The council will have 13 Russian and Vietnamese experts and be chaired by Prof. Dr. Dang Vu Minh, a Central Party Committee member and Chairman of the National Assembly’s Science, Technology and Environment Committee.

The council will have six professors, academicians and doctors of science from Russia. Prof. Academician Bukol Valery Alexeevitch, Director of the National Medicine and Essential Oil Institute, will be the leader of the Russian group of experts.

This body will check and evaluate the state and the maintenance of President Ho Chi Minh’s body over the last 40 years and suggest measures for preserving the President’s body in the future.

The Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum will close from September 7 to November 6 for annual maintenance.

According to the mausoleum’s management board, from its opening on August 29, 1981 to February 2009, the mausoleum welcomed more than 37 million visitors, including nearly 4.9 million people from over 160 countries and international organizations.

On the National Day 2009 (September 2), the mausoleum received 32,500 visitors, the highest number per day so far.

VietNamNet/Government’s website