SOCIAL IN BRIEF 25/4

15:53' 25/04/2008 (GMT+7)
Nearly 3 million people live in malarial areas
As malarial areas are large, nearly 30 million Vietnamese people (around 32% of the population) are living in these areas, including key economic development, mountainous, border and Central Highlands regions.
Dr. Nguyen Manh Hung, Director of the Central Institute for Malaria, Parasitology and Entomology, said that the number of people dying from malaria is falling year by year in Vietnam.
In 2007, Vietnam had only 20 people die of malaria, a reduction of nearly 90% compared to 2000 of the total 70,910 malaria patients. The Central Highlands has the highest number of malaria patients.

As of 2008, the World Health Organisation has designated April 25 as World Day for Malaria Prevention.

Le Ha

Hanoi opens only two streets for tourist cyclos

The Hanoi Department of Transport and Public Works has arranged two parking lots for tourist cyclos on Yen Phu road and Tran Quang Khai street.

The department has announced it will permit cyclos to run on two routes only as of April 25: a route around Hoan Kiem Lake and some ancient streets in the city’s hub and a route around Thang Long ancient citadel.

To prevent disruption of traffic, tourist cyclos are banned from running from 6.30-8.30 in the morning and 4.30-7 in the evening. Around 300 tourist cyclos are licenced in the capital city.

(Source: VNE)

HCM City holds drug prices

Local authorities have told the HCM City Department of Health to wait to give permission to pharmaceutical producers and traders in the city to raise medicine prices until June 30, 2008 under the Prime Minister’s guidance and the Health Ministry’s dispatch to stabilise prices in the market.

The department is also instructed to strictly control the declaration and list of drug prices to prevent speculation, monopoly or joint monopoly to cause unreal scarcity of medicines in the market to force prices up and to punish any violator.

(Source: Tien phong)

HCM City to have press groups

The city will select eligible newspapers in terms of human resources and finances to set up press groups on a trial basis, said Nguyen Tuan Viet, Deputy Director of the HCM City Department of Culture and Information on April 24.

At a meeting to review eight years of implementing the Press Law in HCM City, HCM City’s Vice Chairman Nguyen Thanh Tai confirmed that the Party and the state always highly appreciate the role of the press in the renovation period, in social-economic development and international integration.

Viet said that the city will make more favourable conditions for the press to improve its quality and expand its operations in HCM City.

(Source: Tuoi Tre)

Transport Ministry considers Former Deputy Minister’s case

Minister of Transport Ho Nghia Dung said that the Ministry is considering the case of former Deputy Minister Nguyen Viet Tien, who has had some charges dropped against him in the PMU18 scandal. Previously Tien asked the ministry to reinstate him.

Dung said the Transport Ministry would have to ask for the government’s guidance to deal with this case. “We will report the case to the government in April 2008 but we can’t say when it will be finished,” Dung said.

Related to administrative penalties for Tien under the People’s Supreme Procuracy’s suggestion, Dung said Tien will be fined under the regulations, depending on his violations.

(Source: Tien Phong)

Vietnam to import 100,000 doses of blue ear vaccine

As blue ear epidemic is developing unpredictably, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has instructed related agencies to import 100,000 doses of vaccine from China.

According to Dr. To Long Thanh, Deputy Director of the Central Institute for Veterinary Diagnosis, the vaccine will arrive in Vietnam on April 28. It will be allocated to provinces and cities which have the blue ear epidemic.

Vietnam has 27 million pigs, 17 million in the southern and 10 million in the northern regions.

By April 21, the disease had been reported in 657 communes of ten provinces, attacking 222,000 pigs, including over 221,300 culled, reported the Veterinary Agency.

(Source: Tien Phong)

US$3.2 billion for Can Tho-Kien Giang highway

The government has approved the construction of Can Tho 2 Bridge and a 160km highway that crosses the southern provinces of Can Tho and Kien Giang at a cost of $3.7 billion.

In the first phase of construction, the highway will have six lanes and eight lanes in the second phase, with road width of 95m. The highway will serve between 25,000 to 30,000 cars a day, which can run up to 120km/h. Of the total capital of $3.7 billion, $3.2 billion is for building the highway and $500 million for the Can Tho 2 Bridge, which crosses the Hau River.

The Can Tho-Kien Giang highway will be built in the build-operate-transfer (BOT) mode.

Minh Ha

Defendants in sex clip scandal to go on trial this May

Six months after discovering the culprits who put a sex clip of actress Hoang Thuy Linh on the Internet, the Hanoi People’s Procuracy has finalised its charges against the four, who are charged with spreading depraved culture under the Vietnamese Penal Code.

The four defendants are Nguyen Huu Tai, 24, student of FPT-Arena University; Vu Thi Thuy Linh, 22, student of private Thang Long University; Vo Thanh Hiep, 26, student of FPT University; and Nguyen Thu Linh, 22, student of London Fashion Training Centre in Hanoi.

According to the Hanoi People’s Procuracy’s indictment, the four above defendants uploaded a sex clip of Hoang Thuy Linh and her boyfriend on the internet last October, resulting in public outrage.

The case will go on trial in Hanoi this May.

T. Nhung

Thanh Hoa: Over 330,000 people face food shortage

Because of flooding in early October 2007 and the cold spells in early 2008, the central province of Thanh Hoa has suffered great losses of crops and animal husbandry. As a result, around 330,000 locals may face food shortages in the coming months.

The local authorities have asked the government to allocate rice to these people, totalling over 5,000 tonnes.

From October 2007 to April 2008, Thanh Hoa received rice relief three times, with a total volume of 9,000 tonnes.