MOU countries stress on drug control; HCM City takes measures to ease traffic congestion; Child respiratory diseases rise sharply in HCM City; Industrial parks urged to hire locals

MOU countries stress on drug control

A meeting of the senior officials of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for drug control in the sub-Mekong region opened in Da Nang on May 12.

The meeting attracted representatives from the United Nationals Office on Drug and Crime (UNODC) in the Asia-Pacific region and senior officials from sub-Mekong region countries, including China, Laos, Myanmar, Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam.

At the opening meeting, deputy Minister of Public Security, Le The Tiem, affirmed that 2010 marks the 15th year Vietnam has taken part in the MOU. He said in recent times, Vietnam has gradually taken part in the regional action against drug abuse. With Vietnam’s determination, efforts and support from MOU members and the UN, Vietnam has obtained significant achievements in drug control. Vietnam has virtually eliminated poppies and reduced the number of drug users. The country is an active member in implementing regional commitments and agreements, Mr Tiem said.

Member countries agreed to appoint Vietnam as president of this year’s meeting.

This is a good chance for MOU countries and the UNODC to discuss and agree on strategic issues such as promoting drug control co-operation, improving bilateral and multilateral co-operative mechanisms in the region and forecasting new trends of drug crime in the future.

Int’l Exhibition on Vietnam’s Medicine and Pharmacy 2010 opens

The 17th International Exhibition on Vietnam’s Medicine and Pharmacy 2010 opened at the Friendship Cultural Palace in Hanoi on May 12.

The event has been organised by the Vietnam Medical Products Import-Export Joint Stock Company (VIMEDIMEX Vietnam) in coordination with the Vietnam Advertisement & Fair Exhibition Company (VIETFAIR).

On display are 350 stalls from 200 domestic and foreign businesses in the fields of medicine production and healthcare equipment.

Visitors to the exhibition are given free check-ups.

The event will last until May 15.

Providing free eye surgery to poor people in Vietnam and Laos

In response to a programme to provide free eye surgery to poor people in Vietnam and Laos, the Viettel Group has presented VND400 million to the Vietnam National Institute of Ophthalmology (VNIO) to carry out the programme.

Accordingly, the VNIO will carry out free eye surgery to 50 poor people in Quang Xuong district, Thanh Hoa province in Vietnam and 150 others in Laos.

At the presentation ceremony in Hanoi on May 12, the two sides expressed their hope of developing a fund for humanitarian eye surgery and called upon individuals, organisations and businesses donating money to bring sight to the poor.

It is estimated Laos has more than 56,200 blind citizens out of the 5.8 million total population. Meanwhile the country has only 15 eye doctors, mainly in Vientiane and some other cities who carry out around 5,000 surgeries each year.

In Vietnam cataracts are the main cause of blindness, accounting for 65 percent of documented cases. Currently, around 1.2 million people are awaiting eye surgery.

4,000 more luxury hotel rooms operational in Hanoi in 2010

Hanoi will offer additional 4,000 high-quality hotel rooms this year to serve the 1000th anniversary of Thang Long-Hanoi and National Tourism Year 2010.

The city now has about 800 accommodation facilities of all kinds with over 16,000 rooms, of which 213 star-rated hotels offer 10,000 rooms.

With more than 30 on-going projects to build 3-5 star hotels, Hanoi is expected to have 20,000 rooms capable of receiving tourists in 2010.

Grand requiem for Dien Bien Phu martyrs

A grand requiem for Vietnamese soldiers who fell in the famous battle of Dien Bien Phu was held on May 11at the A1 cemetery in Dien Bien province, involving many Buddhists, Vietnamese veterans, and local people.

On addressing the event, the Venerable Thich Thien Nhon, a senior official from the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha, reviewed the patriotic spirit and strong determination shown by the Vietnamese people during the two wars of resistance.

Those taking part in the ceremony offered incense to the martyrs buried at the A1 Cemetery.

The ceremony, held by the Foreign Ministry, the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha, and the Dien Bien People’s Committee, coincided with the 56th anniversary of the Dien Bien Phu victory over the French colonialists.

Laos, Vietnam to plant 31 border markers

The Vietnamese province of Quang Tri and the Lao province of Savannakhet have completed planting 12 borders markers and are currently building 5 others along their common border.

By the end of this year, the two sides will have another 14 posted.

A team of workers from Quang Tri are joining efforts with the two Ministries of Natural Resources and Environment to speed up planting of the remaining borders markers.

Fifth Global Oceans Conference held in Paris

More than 800 delegates from 84 countries across the world, scientific organisations and UN agencies, attended the fifth Global Oceans Conference which was held at UNESCO headquarters in Paris, France.

The conference, which was jointly held by the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission under UNESCO, the French government, the Global Environment Fund, and the Global Forum on Oceans, focused on 3 topics including Ensuring Survival: Oceans, Climate and Security, Preserving Life: Marine Biodiversity and Networks of Marine Protected Areas, and Improving Governance: Achieving Integrated, Ecosystem-Based Ocean and Coastal Management.

At a scientific and technical symposium, the participants discussed the relationship between science and policy formulation.

Vietnam called for international assistance to vulnerable countries in the management of the seas and islands, in the context of climate change and rising sea levels.

On the sidelines of the conference, Vietnam’s delegation, led by the Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Pham Khoi Nguyen had a series of bilateral meetings with international organisations such as the Global Environment Fund and the National Library of France.

NGO donates wheelchairs to disabled people

The Laurence S.Ting Community Assistance Fund and the Phu My Hung Joint Stock Company on May 11 presented 251 wheelchairs, worth VND298 million, to disabled people in the central province of Nghe An.

The wheelchairs were bequeathed to disabled people in Dien Chau, Quynh Luu, Anh Son and Nghia Dan districts and Thai Hoa town.

Present at the hand-over ceremony were representatives of provincial People’s Committee, the Fatherland Fronts Committee, the Department of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs, Department of Health, Department of Education and Training, the Association of Victims of Agent Organge/Dioxin, the Youth Union and the Women Association.

From early 2009 until now, the Laurence S.Ting Community Assistance Fund and the Phu My Hung Joint Stock Company have funded 4,236 wheelchairs, at a total cost of over VND4 billion, for handicapped people in 23 cities and provinces nationwide.

Thanh Hoa holds reburial service for 136 martyrs

A reburial service for 136 sets of the remains of Vietnamese martyrs who had fought as volunteers in Laos during the war, was held at Ham Rong cemetery in the central province of Thanh Hoa on May 10.

The remains were gathered by the provincial Military Command’s search team. 53 out of 136 sets of the remains were identified as coming from 12 cities and provinces across the country, including Hanoi, Hai Phong, Dien Bien, Thai Binh, Cao Bang, Ha Giang, Tuyen Quang, Hung Yen, Ha Nam, Nam Dinh, Hai Duong and Thanh Hoa.

In the past 10 years, this search team gathered and reburied the remains of more than 2,500 Vietnamese martyrs who had laid down their lives on the battlefield.

Clean water for 20,000 homes

The Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta Province of Soc Trang plans to spend VND60 billion (US$3.16 million) this year to bring clean water to more than 20,000 poor Khmer households.

To Ngoc Tuan, deputy head of the provincial Agriculture and Rural Development Department, said Soc Trang has been implementing a programme in all communes to support poor Khmer residents access clean water, and this has already benefited many households.

The province has also co-operated with non-government organisation CARE International to carry out a project supporting people in areas facing a serious shortage of clean water, with thousands of bore wells, jars and tanks to store rain water.

The rate of residents having access to clean water in the province was about 90 per cent. The province would strive to raise it to 95 per cent in urban areas and 88 per cent in rural area this year, Tuan said.

The Khmer ethnic minority, who account for more than 30 per cent of the province’s population, has been facing severe water shortages because of drought.

Like many other residents, they had to buy clean water at very high prices of up to VND60,000 per a cubic meter in the dry season in some areas.

The situation resulted from the uneven distribution of water sources in the Delta, both in place and time, according to the National Centre for Rural Water Supply and Environment Sanitation, which noted that about 20 per cent of total delta areas frequently faced drought and was intruded by saline water.

However, Soc Trang has established clean water supply systems in all of its districts and communes, even in remote areas, bringing fresh water to hundreds of thousands of families in the province.

With a capacity of 40cubic meter per hour, the water supply station in My Tu District’s Thuan Hung Commune, for instance, provides fresh water to more than 1,000 households, mostly Khmer.

The province has also built water supply facilities in the coastal communes of Vien Binh and Vien An in Tran De District, bringing fresh water to more than 65 per cent of households there.

HCM City takes measures to ease traffic congestion

HCM City’s Department of Transport has mapped out urgent measures to ease traffic congestion in the city.

The department is working to create a list of congested areas where new business registration certificates should not be granted to enterprises. The proposal will then be sent to the municipal People’s Committee for approval.

The department will also install additional road signs on crowded routes, according to the department’s report that was submitted to the municipal People’s Committee on Monday.

Creating one-way streets and accelerating the progress of construction work in order to remove safety fences that cause additional congestion will be carried out until the end of the year.

An inventory of schools with constant traffic jams at their surrounding areas will be completed and submitted to the city’s Department of Education and Training so that measures can be implemented to deal with the congestion.

The department’s inspectors will conduct more patrols and stricter fines will be given to street racers, particularly near the East-West Highway and Thu Thiem Bridge.

City student to compete in Japan speech contest

Nguyen Thi Diem Chau, a second-year student at the HCM City Pedagogy University, will be the Vietnamese contestant at the ASEAN-Japanese Speech Contest to be held in Tokyo in autumn.

Competitors can speak on the topic of their choice.

She qualified by winning the annual Japanese Speech Contest held last Sunday at the HCM City-based Social Sciences and Humanities University by the Japanese consulate in the city. The topic was “Failures are stepping stones to success.”

Poor students get exam fee support

The Ha Noi departments of education and training and finance have urged high schools to subsidise poor students’ final exam fees to prevent quitting on financial grounds.

High school final exam fees are VND143,000 ($7.50) but students rated as poor will only have to pay VND12,000 ($0.60) with the remainder sourced from schools’ tuition fees and the national budget.

Child respiratory diseases rise sharply in HCM City

The number of children suffering from heat-related illness in HCM City has increased rapidly in recent days, hospital officials have said.

The Paediatrics Hospitals No 1 and No 2, the city’s two major hospitals for children, each receive 3,000-5,000 outpatients and in-patients a day, most of whom are diagnosed with respiratory and digestive infection, hand-foot-mouth disease, meningitis and encephalitis.

Dr. Tran Anh Tuan, head of the Paediatrics Hospital No 1’s Respiratory Diseases Ward, said the number of in-patients with respiratory problems at the ward on Monday increased to 245 compared to 180 two weeks ago.

“Prolonged hot weather is the main cause of the increase of respiratory illness in children,” Tuan said.

On the same day, the Paediatrics Hospital No 1 also provided treatment for 50 in-patients with meningitis and encephalitis. Of the patients, 14 were in critical condition.

Dr. Nguyen Dac Tho, deputy director of the HCM City Preventive Medicine Department, said this was the peak season for several diseases.

Meningitis was now in its peak season and the number of cases would increase if the weather continued to be hot.

The number of children with hand-foot-mouth disease has increased by 31 per cent compared to the same period last year.

“There is a high risk of hand-foot-mouth disease breaking out,” Tho said.

Hand-foot-mouth disease often reaches its peak season in October, but this year the number of children suffering from the disease has increased rapidly this month, he added.

Other hospitals, including Nguyen Trai, Nguyen Tri Phuong, Nhan Dan 115 and Trung Vuong, also have reported that the number of older patients suffering from respiratory illness, pneumonia, high blood pressure and other heat-related diseases at their hospitals have also increased in recent days.

Industrial parks urged to hire locals

Employers at industrial parks and processing zones should rely on local rather than migrant workers to offset HCM City’s manpower shortage, according to Nguyen Tri, a labour expert at Tri Viet Training Centre.

“Employers are not aware of the bond that workers have with their hometowns, which is deeply entrenched in the mind of every Vietnamese,” he said.

“So if workers must travel elsewhere to make a living, they’ll go back to their hometowns sooner or later,” he added.

More than two-thirds of workers at factories and workshops are migrants from other parts of the country, and only one-third are permanent residents of the city, according to figures from the city’s Labour Union and Department of Labour.

Many HCM City residents do not want to work in industrial parks.

Tri cited a survey of Thu Duc District’s 7,500 workers aged 18 to 45 conducted by his training centre showed that 65 per cent of respondents said they did not want to do manual work.

“This explains why, even though we have 4 million people of working age, we can hardly fill 1.5 million jobs at local shops and factories,” he said.

“Many worrkers would prefer to be self-employed in jobs or crafts that do not require skills or training but still generate a higher income than factory workers,” he added.

Tri warned that the city would face an acute worker shortage if actions were not taken as soon as possible to prepare a new well-trained workforce.

“Spurred by the city’s development, the demands for workers are on the rise,” he said, noting that the city needs around an additional 300,000 workers every year.

He recommended shifting to knowledge-intensive rather than labour-intensive sectors such as footwear, textiles and processing industries, which have traditionally dominated the economic landscape.

“When the city becomes a high-tech hub, the shortage in the manual workforce will no longer be a problem,” Tri explained.

“We should place priority on training local workers. Incentives should be available to encourage high school students to attend vocational training centres,” he added.

PV