Baby killed as bus hits bikes waiting at traffic light; Officials protest power plant’s forest clearance proposal; Da Lat waterfall to be freed of dredged waste; Hanoi to host health exhibition

The third meeting was held in Hanoi on April 12 to honour outstanding handicapped, orphans and patrons.

Present at the meeting were Vice State President Nguyen Thi Doan, former Vice State President Nguyen Thi Binh, and representatives from domestic and international organisations and embassies in Hanoi, as well as 327 handicapped people, orphans and patrons from 63 provinces and cities.

Ms Doan appreciated the efforts of the handicapped and orphans and the good deeds of patrons. She said that the Party and State have always cared about the disabled people and orphans through incentive policies to create the best conditions for them to enjoy the society’s achievements and feel self-confident in the community. She also urged businesses to actively get involved in social activities to protect and care for disabled people and orphans, not only by providing financial support but also by recruiting them to help assert them and allow them to do useful work.

The Chairman of the Association in Support of Vietnamese Handicapped and Orphans (ASVHO), Vu Dinh Lieu said the meeting aims to honour those who overcome difficulties as well as kind-hearted. Over the past years, with great attention from the Party and State as well as social organizations and individuals, the living conditions of handicapped and orphans have improved significantly, Mr Lieu said.

On the occasion, the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs and the ASVHO presented certificates of merit to outstanding handicapped, orphans and patrons.

Baby killed as bus hits bikes waiting at traffic light

A two-year-old girl was killed and six others injured after a bus crashed into six motorbikes on Hanoi Highway in Ho Chi Minh City on Sunday.

The head-on accident happened at around 7 a.m. when the bus carrying 50 students from Dong Nai Province for a sight-seeing tour in HCMC seemed to lose control at the Binh Thai Crossroads, according to eye witnesses.

The bus hit six motorbikes that were waiting for the green light, killing Vu Thi Van Anh on the spot. Six other victims were admitted to nearby hospitals for emergency care.

The truck driver fled the scene after the accident, police said.

Officials protest power plant’s forest clearance proposal

Agricultural officials in the central province of Quang Nam have asked the provincial administration to reject a power plant investor’s request to fell 745 hectares of forest to help resettled residents farm.

On March 15, the Hydroelectricity Project Management Board No. 3, an Electricity of Vietnam unit, submitted an appeal to the Quang Nam’s People’s Committee, saying it needed to cut down trees and turned the forest into a cultivation area for 413 families relocated by the Tranh River 2 Hydropower Plant.

They now live in a resettlement area near the forest but the investor is yet to compensate them for farms that had been taken over to build the power plant.

“A hectare of arable land costs around VND100 million (US$5,260) and it will be a big expense for us to pay compensation,” the Hydroelectricity Project Management Board No. 3 said.

Nguyen Thanh Quang, director of the provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, said the investor should have allotted the relocation area for resettled residents’ farming before constructing the power plant.

“They [the investor] began work on the plant several years ago but didn’t plan the relocation. It’s unacceptable that 745 hectares of forest, mainly protective forest are cut down,” he said.

Quang also insinuated that there may be more to the request for forest land than meets the eye.

“Large trees in the forest may be the reason that some Hydroelectricity Project Management Board No. 3 officials want to cut them down,” he said.

Since 2004, more than 4,400 hectares of land, including 3,300 hectares of forest, have been cleared for hydroelectric plants, significantly reducing the forest’s capacity to hold water upstream, according to the agricultural department.

Da Lat waterfall to be freed of dredged waste

The investor of a lake-dredging project in the resort town of Da Lat said it would change the site for dumping waste mud after receiving complaints that it had made the famous Prenn Waterfalls muddy.

Nguyen Minh Son, head of Da Lat Construction Project Management Board, said his agency would dump the mud dredged from Xuan Huong Lake at some other places in the town instead of the Mimoza Pass, two kilometers from the waterfall, Vietnam News Agency reported Friday.

Earlier this month, Company 508 and Song Than Company, which are in charge of dredging the lake following the board’s request, dumped the mud at the pass. Heavy rains then washed it into streams that run down to the waterfall, making the water muddy and smelly.

The dumping had not only affected the waterfall but was also taking a toll on about 150 farmers living near the Lang Spring along the pass as water from the spring was the only source of irrigation for their flower and vegetable gardens.

Son said his agency planned to dump 395,000 cubic meters of mud at Mimoza Pass but it received complaints after dumping only around 20,000 cubic meters.

“We are also building a dam at the pass to stop the mud from flowing to the waterfall,” he said.

City offers gifts in exchange for toxic household waste

Old batteries, chemical containers and broken light bulbs can be exchanged for gifts at the Recycling Festival in Ho Chi Minh City next Sunday, the organizers said.

An official from the city’s Department of Natural Resources and Environment, which organizes the festival, said people handing over the garbage will get notebooks, pens, key chains and other home appliances. The official was quoted by local newswire Vnexpress.

Visitors to the Chemical Recycling Festival 2010 will also receive information on how to deal with containers and of experimental projects being implemented to recycle paper bags and bottles.

According to the HCMC Chemical Recycling Fund, the third edition of the festival aims to raise public awareness about the need to reduce the amount of toxic chemicals that are released into the environment.

The festival will be held at the Le Van Tam Park in District 1.

Hue city builds high-end travel services center

Work began Saturday on a tourism service center in Hue that will cost more than US$2 million to build.

The Hue Travel Plaza with five stories and a basement is expected to provide tourism and high-end commercial services to both foreign and domestic visitors to the central region.

The Hue Tourism Joint Stock Company and Ben Thanh Corporation, a major tour operator based in Ho Chi Minh City, are investing VND43 billion ($2.25 million) in the project.

Project contractor Long Viet Joint Stock Company said the 5,200-sq.m center can be put into use in early 2011.

More HCMC children contracting hand-foot-mouth disease

Ho Chi Minh City hospitals April 12 reported an alarming rise in the number of children being diagnosed with hand-foot-and mouth disease over the past week.

The city’s Children Hospital I, II and the Tropical Disease Hospital have each seen nearly 100 children recently admitted with the disease, while doctors have expressed concern that families are waiting too long to bring children for medical treatment.

Delays in treating the illness can cause complications to the nervous system while some children have required the use of breathing machines.

Dr. Nguyen Dac Tho, deputy director of the city’s Preventive Health Center, said hand-foot-and mouth cases amongst toddlers and young children have skyrocketed since January with the health sector reporting 667 cases since the beginning of the year, 57 percent higher than the same period last year.

‘Green’ classes aim to raise teens’ environmental awareness

Students from four high schools in Ho Chi Minh City are participating in a series of “green” classes this month aimed at raising their environmental awareness. The classes are part of a program organized by Vietnamese information portal Zing.vn.

The website, part of online game publisher and e-commerce company Vinagame, launched the project in collaboration with the Saigon 350 Group.

Under the program, teens from HCMC’s High School for the Gifted; Nguyen Thi Minh Khai High School; Practicing High School under the HCMC University of Pedagogy; and Le Hong Phong High School are learning about environmental issues and responsibility.

The three-hour classes are designed to be dynamic and engaging, beginning with a short documentary film about environmental topics, followed by a talk from a representative of the HCMC Institute of Tropical Biology.

Students are encouraged to ask questions during the discussion and are then quizzed on the material they’ve learned.

Organizers hope the classes will help teens come away with a greater appreciation for the environment and become more involved in environmental protection efforts.

City pharmaceutical companies receive fines for violations

Several pharmaceutical companies and pharmacies have recently been fined for violating laws, Ho Chi Minh City’s Department of Market Management has said.

The department has been investigating pharmaceutical enterprises in the city for the past three months and says it found some drugstores of the My Chau pharmaceutical chain and Minh Phuc Pharmaceutical Joint-Stock Company selling expired medicines and drugs without Vietnamese labels.

The department has fined Minh Phuc VND17.5 million and revoked the business registration certificate of one of My Chau’s drugstores at 73 Thuan Kieu Street in District 5.

The city market management department also penalized the Dong Phuong Pharmaceutical Company VND20 million for similar offenses and withdrew its business registration papers.

The Saigon Pharmaceutical Company, meanwhile, was fined VND12.5 million when market management officials discovered the enterprise didn’t keep written records after inspecting the company’s warehouse in an industrial area of HCMC’s Hoc Mon District.

Hanoi to host health exhibition

An exhibition featuring advanced community health will take place at the Hanoi Friendship Cultural Palace from May 12-15.

The annual event, entitled Vietnam Medi-Pharm, held by the Ministry of Health, will introduce policies and laws on health cooperation and investment and the latest achievements of the Vietnamese health care sector, creating opportunities for product exposure, experience sharing and investment and technology transfer.

A 7,500sq m area will be used for introducing more than 300 companies in the field from Germany, France, Belgium, the Czech Republic, the US, Taiwan, Malaysia, the Republic of Korea, India, Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia.

Japan helps Vietnam establish cleft lip and palate foundation

The Vietnamese Cleft Lip and Palate Foundation was officially established in Hanoi on April 13 with assistance from the Japanese Cleft Palate Foundation.

The new foundation is a non-profit organization that aims to assist children who are suffering from disorders including congenital oral diseases and their families in Vietnam. It will also

provide humanitarian aid to children in overseas countries in cooperation with the International Cleft Lip and Palate Foundation and the Japanese Cleft Palate Foundation.

Currently, there are 200,000 cases of cleft lip and palate in Vietnam, which is estimated to have 300 additional cases each year.

Over the past 18 years, Japan has worked with Vietnamese doctors to perform operations on about 2,000 people with cleft lips and palates. In addition, Japan has helped train Vietnamese doctors and cooperated with them in performing operations on patients in Laos.

Also, Japan has carried out numerous studies on the causes of these deformities in Vietnamese children and put forward suitable preventive measures.

Free-interest loans from the Japanese have benefited several poor families with children in need of surgery in the southern province of Ben Tre.

BIDV presents computers to Lao education

The Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BIDV) will present 640 computer systems to the Lao government to assist the country’s education sector under an agreement signed in Vientiane on April 12.

The presents will be given to Laos’ mountainous and remote provinces in need of information technology to improve the quality of teaching and learning, said Chairman of BIDV’s Board of Directors Tran Bac Ha.

Lao Permanent Deputy Prime Minister Somsavath Lengsavath expressed appreciation for the bank’s care and attention to his country, adding that he believes relations between the two Parties, States and people will grow stronger than ever before.

BIDV plans to provide an additional 2,000 computer systems to the Lao government in the next three years (2010-2012).

Overseas Vietnamese Business Association sets up new branch

The Business Association of Overseas Vietnamese (BAOOV) has set up its branch in Washington DC, on April 12.

Addressing the launch ceremony, Vietnamese Ambassador to the US Le Cong Phung expressed his hope that the branch will help promote the ties between business circles in Vietnam and the US and make great contributions to the two countries’ multi-faced relations.

BAOOV President Pham Nhat Vuong said that the association decided to form a branch in the US to promote business opportunities in Vietnam to the Americans and the Vietnamese American business community.

David Huy Ho, Vice President of BAOOV and President of its branch, said that in 2008, Vietnamese and American businesses generated over US$20 billion in the US and invested about US$200 million in Vietnam.

Fifth person tests positive for vibrio cholerae

Five people have been infected with vibrio cholerae in Ho Chi Minh City so far, according to an official from the municipal health department.

The fifth case was a female pupil from Hong Bang junior high school in District 5, who tested positive for the bacterium on April 12. She is the sister of a male student who contracted the disease on April 9.

The local medical watchdog called an urgent meeting with the relevant agencies on April 13 to discuss countermeasures.

The results of an epidemiological survey have shown that all these cases of infection are related to cooking vendors operating near schools, which usually do not meet hygiene requirements.

HCM City has launched a hygiene campaign to raise public awareness of this and to closely monitor people suspected of having the disease.

Vuong Phan Kim, an official from the District 5 People’s Committee, said her district has taken preventive measures such as advising pupils not to eat unhygienic food, spraying disinfectant, improving the quality of canteens and taking samples from food and drinks sold by vendors.

Nghe An holds festivals for Lao and Thai students

Laos’ Bunpimay festival and Thailand’s Songkran festival will be held in the central province of Nghe An from April 13-16 for students from both nations studying at Vinh University.

The festivals are co-organised by Vinh University and the local chapters of the Vietnam-Laos Friendship Association and the Vietnam-Thailand Friendship Association.

They feature volleyball tournament and a cultural programme for students to show the traditional ties of friendship between the three countries.

The Vietnam-Laos Friendship Association in the province also grants 8 scholarships, worth VND500,000 each, for outstanding students.

Vinh University currently has a total of 314 Lao and Thai students, topping other universities and colleges in the country.

Charity programme raises nearly VND10b for the disabled

The seventh ‘One heart-One world’ charity arts programme took place in Hanoi on April 18, raising nearly VND10 billion from sponsors, individuals and TV audience to help people with disabilities.

Another VND400 million was raised for the Fund of the Vietnam Association for Sponsoring the Disabled and Orphans (VASDO) from the auctioning of two Mobifone SIM cards.

The event, held by VASDO in conjunction with Vietnam Television, was to honour shining examples of disabled people who have tried hard to overcome their own difficulties, and also to show gratitude to benefactors for helping the handicapped.

The annual programme has helped to attract more public awareness of the plight of disadvantaged people and has brought them closer to the rest of society.

Among the participants in ‘One heart-One world’ were Tong Thi Phong, Vice Chairwoman of the National Assembly, Pham Quang Nghi, Secretary of the Hanoi Municipal Party Committee, and Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan, Minister of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs.

Free heart surgery for children in Phu Yen

Some 124 children suffering from congenital heart defects in the central province of Phu Yen will undergo free surgeries, each worth over VND50 million, this summer.

The children were selected from 379 child heart patients under the age of 16 through checks-up jointly carried out by the Phu Yen provincial Department of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs and Tam Duc hospital in Ho Chi Minh City on April 10 and 11.

The Swiss Children Action Organisation will fund the operations for 10 patients. The remaining will be sponsored by HCM City’s Poor Patient Sponsorship Association.

In 2009, 49 disadvantaged children in Phu Yen province had free heart surgeries under the annual charitable programme.

Blue ear pig disease spreads far and wide

The blue ear pig disease has broken out in several northern provinces, including Hai Duong, Thai Binh and Thai Nguyen, raising concerns about epidemic prevention in localities.

Since the first case was detected in Hai Duong’s Binh Giang district on March 28, the Porcine Reproductive & Respiratory Syndrome (PRRS) virus has spread to Tu Ky and Gia Loc districts, with more than 650 pigs infected, of which 100 have already died.

The provincial Department of Animal Health blames the recent outbreaks on unusual weather conditions, poor knowledge of farming practices, and poor vaccination campaigns. In addition, farmers still sell sick and infected pigs, paying no heed to warnings from veterinarians.

The department has supplied 6 tonnes of disinfectant to spray over affected areas. Mobile checkpoints have been established to prevent the slaughtering, trading and transport of infected pigs to and from the restricted areas. Farmers and butchers have been encouraged not to sell sick pigs.

“We have collaborated with the police and market management forces to monitor sick pigs and cull those seriously infected,” Pham Dinh Nghi, deputy head of the department. “We have disinfected farms twice a week and enhanced the dissemination of information about the disease.”

Infections have been also detected in a herd of 41 pigs in Phu Binh district, Thai Nguyen province. Half the herd have been confirmed to carry the PRRS virus.

In Thai Binh province, the virus has attacked 8 out of 44 communes in Dong Dung district, with more than 1,000 pigs sick or dead.

“It takes us a lot of time to wipe out the disease completely and this requires a large budget,” says Vu Duy Viet, head of the Dong Hung District Veterinary Agency. “In addition, we face a chronic lack of veterinarians who are normally not provided with allowances to work in communes. A low rate of vaccination and lax management of trading and transporting of sick pigs are also major obstacles to preventing an epidemic.”

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) has instructed the Red River Delta provinces to intensify preventative measures, with a focus on quarantining sick pigs and vaccinating the others.

“Our staff are on duty around the clock running the hotline to provide support if required,” says Van Dang Ky, a MARD veterinary expert. “The national reserve has a sufficient amount of vaccines and disinfectants to be supplied to provinces and cities. Veterinarians are asked to monitor suspected cases from door to door in localities to ensure the epidemic will not spread far and wide.”

Experts have warned that the current weather conditions are favourable for the PRRS virus to emerge and spread to other communities. Farmers have been advised to inform the nearest veterinary agency about any cases with symptoms of the blue ear disease, and not to throw infected pigs into ponds or sell their meat to local residents.

Hanoi youth begins summer volunteer campaign

Nearly 4,000 young people in Hanoi took part in a festival organized by the municipal Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union (HCMCYU) on April 11 to welcome the grand celebration of the 1,000th year of Thang Long-Hanoi.

The First Secretary of the HCMCYU Central Committee, Vo Van Thuong, and representatives from several embassies in Hanoi were also present at the meeting.

The Secretary of the Hanoi Youth Union, Ngo Duy Hieu, launched the 2010 Youth Summer Volunteer Campaign to spruce up the city for its 1,000th anniversary.

The campaign’s theme is “Develop Culture – Protect the Environment “, and the main activities will take place from May to August. The Hanoi Youth Union will also select 1,000 youth volunteers to take part in the grand celebration.

During the festival, thousands of students, youths, Hanoians and foreigners joined a walk “for a capital without garbage”.

The 2010 Youth Month that ended on March 31 achieved good results. Hanoi’s youth raised more than VND5 billion for charitable activities, started 366 projects towards the grand celebration, planted 16,500 trees, gathered 235 tonnes of rubbish from construction sites, donated 7,782 units of blood, and honoured 150 outstanding Youth Union secretaries and 100 outstanding young people.

New cold spell expected next week

A new cold spell will hit northern provinces early next week to put an end to the current heat wave in the region, according to the National Hydro-meteorological Forecasting Centre.

The cold spell is forecast to strike northern border provinces on the evening of April 13, the centre said on April 11. It will bring rain and cause temperatures to drop slightly by 3-4oC.

Meanwhile, the current a heat wave has baked the north-western region for the past few days and is spreading to the north-eastern region. Daytime temperatures in Lai Chau and Dien Bien provinces rose to 36-38oC on April 10-11and are expected to peak at 39-40oC in the next two days.

Central provinces such as Nghe An, Hue and Quang Binh have also experienced the hot air for several days, with temperatures ranging between 36.5 to 37.6oC.

People in north-eastern provinces will feel a fairly hot on April 12-13 before the cold spell comes and cool down the hot weather.

PV