Acute diarrhea recurs in Hanoi
Many people in Hanoi have been diagnosed with acute diarrhea over the past week.
The Central Hospital for Tropical Diseases received and treated 36 patients infected with the disease, 18 of them tested positive for Vibrio cholera. Most patients were from Hanoi’s inner districts, including Hoang Mai, Cau Giay, Hai Ba Trung and Thanh Xuan.
Doctor Nguyen Hong Ha, Deputy Director of the Central Hospital for Tropical Diseases, said that unsafe cooking is the main cause of the disease. It is essential to ensure strict management of food hygiene and safety, and people should eat cooked food and drink boiled water, and maintain good personal hygiene to prevent the spread of the disease, she said.
Large investment for hydrometeorology system
The Prime Minister has approved a VND1.3 trillion (US$73.2 million) project to modernise the hydrometeorology observation network and forecasting system for the 2010-2012 period.
The project comprises five small projects, including a VND342 billion plan to install 127 automatic meteorological stations in the north as well as rainfall measurement equipment at 25 gauging stations in the Red River and 412 others nationwide.
Another sub-project will install four weather radar and two radiosonde stations at a cost of VND292 billion and a third project will equip meteorological stations with modern data transmission machines and database with an estimated budget of VND294 billion.
The fourth project, to cost VND151.8 billion, aims to modernise the hydrometeorology forecasting system and the last will build a coordinating centre for the sector at a cost of VND262 billion.
Earlier, the Japanese Government pledged to help Vietnam improve the rain and flood forecast and warning system in the northern region with a programme worth JPY2 billion (US$22 million).
Funeral held for veteran journalist
Viet Nam Communist Party General Secretary Nong Duc Manh; President Nguyen Minh Triet; Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung; National Assembly Chairman Nguyen Phu Trong and Viet Nam Fatherland Front President Huynh Dam attended the funeral service for revolutionary journalist Hoang Tung in Ha Noi yesterday.
Hundreds of delegations of senior Party officials, representatives of the Viet Nam Journalists Association, government offices and media agencies were also among the mourners.
The former Party Central Committee secretary and editor-in-chief of Nhan Dan (The People) newspaper died in Ha Noi on Tuesday. He was 91.
Tributes to Hoang Tung were written into a memorial book where he was described as an outstanding instructor and teacher and a talented journalist who dedicated his life to the revolution and the nation.
Politburo member and permanent Central Committee Secretariat member Truong Tan Sang delivered an oration in which he said Hoang Tung had always displayed great willingness and resilience whether during his years in prison or at work. People could learn from his serious and determined application to his tasks, he said.
Hoang Tung had always tried to be close to the people and listen to their opinions.
He had been awarded the nation’s highest honour, the Golden Star Order, the Ho Chi Minh Order and others for his contribution to the country’s independence and development.
The name and the career of Hoang Tung would live forever in the hearts of his friends and family, he said.
Hoang Tung’s final resting place is the Mai Dich Cemetery.
Border guards bust drug trafficking ring
Southern Tay Ninh Province’s Border Guard caught three people trying to illegally enter Viet Nam with 1kg of drugs.
In ongoing investigations, Moc Bai border guards and provincial police arrested three more suspects and seized a cake of heroin, 30 drug tablets, a car and three motorbikes.
To Van Nam, a Vietnamese Australian, is accused of heading an international drugs trafficking ring.
Solar-energy power used to save lives at hospital
HCM City Institute of Physics has installed and successfully brought into operation the first solar integrated photovoltaic system in Tam Ky City Health Clinic in central Quang Nam Province.
This system, the first of its kind in Viet Nam, was reported to have effectively supplied electricity to the hospital for nearly a month, especially to emergency areas during unpredictable and day-long power cuts that occur regularly during the hot dry season.
The system’s thermo-electric batteries can supply about 600kWh per month and the smart integrated photovoltaic technology can store spare electricity, which avoids interruptions during surgery and assures the safety of patients in case of power cuts. The system is estimated to have supplied 100 per cent of the electricity demand of the hospital’s emergency areas.
It is part of the protocol signed between Viet Nam and Spain.
According to head of HCM City Institute of Physics’ Solar Electricity Development Unit Trinh Quang Dung, who is also head of the project, this is the first solar photovoltaic model which has been produced and applied in Viet Nam. All of the equipment is designed by Nam Thai Ha Joint Stock Company.
Dr Pham Hong Yen, director of Tam Ky City’s Health Clinic Centre, said that thanks to the system, many critical cases had been saved when unexpected blackouts occurred.
Yen described the system as a safe, economical and environmentally friendly product.
According to Dung, the solar power local network (Madicub) is the most important part of the system, which consumes solar energy to create electricity and uses available electricity in case of a shortage of solar energy.
Dung said the State should promulgate regulations on the use of solar electricity, so the model could spread to other hospitals.
Southern birth rate falls 2.8% in first six months
The birth rate in southern provinces reduced by 2.8 per cent during the first six months this year, reports the Ministry of Health’s General Department for Population and Family Planning.
The total number of children born during the first half of this year was reported at 538,280, a reduction of 2.8 per cent against the same period last year, Tran Mai Hoa, deputy head of the general office, said at yesterday’s online meeting to review population planning during the past six months and map out future plans.
About 23 provinces have a higher birth rate compared with the same period of 2009.
Nguyen Ba Thuy, deputy Minister of Health, said at the conference 24 of 63 provinces and cities haven’t assigned population officers to commune level.
About 799,430 women had a contraceptive coil put in, reaching 55 per cent of the year’s plan. Birth rates reduced sharply, about 1.8 children for each woman, in localities including HCM City, Tien Giang, Binh Thuan, An Giang, Ca Mau and others. Rates for third children went down by 2,323 or four per cent during the period.
Ha Noi bans trucks during exams
Ha Noi Police will ban trucks over one tonne and coaches with more than 30 seats from travelling in 37 streets during rush hours during the university entrance exams starting on Saturday.
The vehicles will be banned between 5-8am, 10.30am-13.30pm and 3.30-7pm on streets where universities, colleges and exam points are located, including Dai La, Giai Phong, Truong Chinh, Nguyen Trai and Chua Boc.
All vehicles have also been banned from parking near examination sites.
Cable bridge for Quang Binh
A cable bridge will be built in central Quang Binh Province next year.
The four-lane bridge, worth VND631 billion (US$ 31.5 million), will be 500m long and 24m wide.
The bridge will cross Nhat Le River, connecting Dong Hoi City and Bao Ninh island.
HCM City to collect used needles
The HCM City AIDS Committee and the Viet Nam Fatherland Front’s HCM City Chapter yesterday launched a six-month campaign to collect used needles discarded by drug users.
Under the “For a Safe Environment” campaign, officials from district-level preventive health centres will work with organisations, unions and a network of peer educators to identify sites where drug users throw away their needles, according to Nguyen Thi Hue city, an official of the HCM City AIDS Committee.
The campaign was launched to create a disease-free environment in public places and prevent public discrimination against people infected with HIV/AIDS.
It is part of a 2007-10 national action plan on harm-reduction intervention for HIV prevention.
The action plan focuses on people who inject drugs intravenously, female sex workers, men who have sex with men, and people who have sex with the highest at-risk groups.
Last year, nearly 400,000 used needles were collected, while the number of needles handed out free of charge to drug users was 1.3 million.
This year, the campaign expects to reach its goal of collecting 80-90 per cent of the total number of free needles that will be distributed to drug users.
Hue said the needle collection effort was difficult to carry out because of a shortage of staff, with only 5-7 educators available for each district.
The city has more than 40,000 people infected with HIV and more than 16,700 people have AIDS.
During the first six months of the year, nearly 1,400 drug users were sent to rehabilitation centres in HCM City, up 36.6 per cent against the same period last year, according to the city’s Department of Labour, Invalids and Social Affair.
Millennial imprints highlighted online
The Vietnamese Government Web Portal hosted an online talk themed “Thousand-year imprints of Thang Long-Hanoi” on July 3.
Participants highlighted the significance of the grand celebrations of the 1,000th anniversary of Thang Long-Hanoi and preparations for the event.
They emphasised the importance of communication on preserving the city’s tangible and intangible heritage, its traditional history and cultural values as well as Hanoians’ customs, traditions and lifestyles while the city is developing.
The millennial tangible and intangible cultural values have created Thang Long-Hanoi’s face, said Prof. Dr. Luu Tran Tieu, who is also President of the Vietnam Cultural Heritage Association.
Vietnam is proposing the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) recognise its 82 doctoral stone steles at the Temple of Literature and the Saint Giong Festival as part of the world’s cultural heritage, Tieu said.
These recognitions will be significant to the celebrations of the capital city’s millennial birthday, he noted.
Vietnam Study Encouragement Association to hold 4th national congress
The 4th National Congress of the Vietnam Study Encouragement Association will be held in Hanoi in September, 2010, with nearly 700 delegates from all 63 provinces and cities taking part.
At a press briefing in Hanoi on July 2, Pham Tat Dong, Deputy Chairman of the Association, said the congress will elect a new Chairman and a new Executive Board for the next five years.
He noted that from 2010 to 2015, the Association will focus on promoting emulation movements, building fond-of-learning family lines, providing assistance to outstanding poor students, and developing community-based study centres.
Currently, Vietnam has 9,600 community-based study centers with a total of 6.5 million members. The country has already mobilised VND640 million for the study encouragement fund in preparation for the 2010 academic year.
PV
