Vietnam, Japan cooperate in cancer treatment Lam Dong General Hospital and Toho Hospital of Sanshikai medical group, Japan, will cooperate in cancer treatment, according to a cooperative agreement signed on February 14. Under the agreement, Toho hospital will supply Lam Dong hospital with medical equipment, diagnostic methods and cancer treatments as well as exchange of patients if required. In return, Lam Dong hospital will facilitate Toho hospital in procedures to receive and cure patients. In addition, both hospitals will exchange staff to share experiences in cancer treatment and prevention. In the second quarter of 2011, Sanshikai will also finance three doctors from Lam Dong hospital to study in Japan and help cure diabetics. Bank rewards nail scam whistleblowers Eximbank in the southern province of Binh Duong on Monday offered accident insurance valued at VND100 billion (US$47,619) per year to ten “knights” who caught people spreading nails on the roads of Phu Hoa Ward. The “knights” of a crime prevention club in Thu Dau Mot District safeguard the streets and have helped capture about 90 criminals over the past two years. Eximbank also rewarded VND50 million (US$2.380) in cash to each person. Dak Nong enjoys clean water supply  | Locals wash with clean water in Cu Gut District in the central province of Dak Nong. (Photo: VNS) | The young boy was enjoying the clean water coming out of a tap in Dak Nong Province’s Dang K’lieng Village. Watching his son frolic, Dieu N’ky smiled and said this year in the dry season his family and neighbours do not have to worry about a water shortage following the installation of a new supply system in Quang Tin Commune. “The health of everyone in my family has become better,” he said, explaining his son no longer felt itchy and slept better at night. In the past they had to fetch water from a river or stream five kilometres from the village, and they were not even clean, he said. At the end of last year the province Center for Rural Water Supply and Environmental Sanitation built a pumping station that supplies 200cu.m of water daily at a cost of VND4 billion (US$191,400). Forty out of the village’s 52 families now got water from this, Pham Van Hai, the chief of the local People’s Committee Secretariat, said. The remaining families would get water this year, he said. In Dak Ru Commune too 128 out of 150 families have been getting clean water since the centre installed a supply system at a cost of VND4 billion at the beginning of last year. Local authorities have petitioned the province administration to double the supply capacity. This is a story that has been repeated in many communes in the province which has spent nearly VND150 billion ($7.2 million) to ensure 75 per cent of all residents have access to clean water, according to the People’s Committee. Rubella, dengue fever on rise Outbreaks of rubella and viral fever have been reported in Da Nang and Quang Nam Province in the last week. Dr Pham Ngoc Ham, head of Da Nang Hospital’s tropical diseases ward, said rubella is occurring earlier than normal this year. On Monday 24 children were treated at the hospital for the disease taking the total number of affected children in the previous few days to 30, he said. The hospital has isolated the patients to avoid further transmission. It has also admitted 15 patients with viral fever and nine others with serious dengue fever. The main reason or the outbreaks was the abnormal weather, Ham added. In Quang Nam Province, the General Hospital treated 90 people with rubella and viral fever in the last one week. Dr Nguyen Duc Hung Son, head of the Nong Son District health clinic, said more than 1,000 people had contracted viral fever since the beginning of this year. In mountainous communes, including Que Lam, nearly half the families had one or more members coming down with the disease, he said. Dang Xuan Vinh, deputy head of the Phuoc Son District health clinic, said viral fever had been reported for the two months, with 251 people hospitalised so far. Enormous fish on display in restaurant A 24 kilogramme Hemibagrus elongatus fish, accepted as the largest specimen ever found locally, is on display at the Son Thuy restaurant in HCM City’s District 3. The fish is one metre long. It has two 60 centimetre beards, and a blazing red tail and fin. Each kilogram of the fish’s meat is valued at VND500,000 (US$23.8). This species of fish lives mainly in the Srepok River in Dak Lak Province and other rivers in Viet Nam’s Tay Nguyen (Central Highlands). Strong winds isolate island district again Ly Son Island District, 18 nautical miles off the coast of Quang Ngai, was isolated from the mainland on Monday due to strong winds which raised the sea level by up to seven metres. To minimise possible losses, all fishing, cargo and passenger vessels have been forbidden from leaving Sa Ky Port. Transportation activities will return to normal when the sea is calm in the next two or three days, announced local authorities. The island was isolated due to weather twice last month. Young Vietnamese politicians and reporters visit Japan A delegation of young Vietnamese politicians and reporters led by Vo Van Thuong, First Secretary of the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union Central Committee began an official visit to Tokyo, Japan on February 16. The visit is part of activities under the East Asia Network of Exchange for Students and Youth Programme (JENESYS) which will be held from February 16-23. The delegation will visit relevant ministries and agencies, ancient villages, factories, television stations and editorial offices in Tokyo. They will also attend cultural exchanges with young Japanese. JENESYES is a cooperative exchange programme between the Government of Japan and East Asia nations, aiming to lay a firm foundation for stronger solidarity in Asia. Japan helps Vietnam improve plant quality The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) will work with the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) to implement a four-year project to raise the output and quality of plants. The project, starting from this year, has a total investment capital of US$3.46 million, with US$3.31 million in non-refundable aid coming from the Japanese side. According to the MARD, the project focuses on improving management capacity in the cultivation sector, in such areas as plant variety protection and the production of safe plants in a bid to meet Vietnam’s commitments to related international treaties. It is designed to set up a plant variety protection system to meet the requirements of integration and fulfill tasks set for members of the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV) in 2016. It also aim to improve the management system of plant production from the central to grassroots levels, while raising public awareness of cooking safety. First priority will be given to the assessment of application form registration for plant variety protection and measures to test the distinctness, uniformity and stability (DUS) of plants which are compatible with international standards and introduced to the National Centre for Plant and Fertilizer Testing as well as other testing centres. Under the project, technicians in charge of guiding farmers to produce safe plants in cities and provinces, including Quang Ninh, Hung Yen, Ha Nam, Hai Phong, Thai Binh and Hoa Binh, will be chosen for capacity improvement. VNN/VOV/VNS
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