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HCMC hospital overload to remain in coming years

Hospital overload has become more severe in HCMC and fresh hospital projects will not be a way out in coming years.

Minister of Health Nguyen Thi Kim Tien (2nd, L) at her meeting with HCMC
 on the healthcare sector on Tuesday.

The city has 50 projects to build new hospitals and upgrade existing ones, said a representative of the HCMC Department of Health at a meeting with the Ministry of Health on Tuesday.

Seven new healthcare facilities will be developed in the city’s outlying districts to ease the burden now shouldered by the hospitals in the downtown area. Such projects are the general hospitals in Cu Chi and Hoc Mon, the orthopedic hospital and the medical testing center in Saigon South, the Thu Duc general hospital and the branch of the Oncology Hospital in District 9, and the pediatric hospital in Binh Chanh.

These seven projects require a total of VND13 trillion, including VND8 trillion from the city’s budget and VND5 trillion in private-sector capital. These projects are expected for completion in 2015 and will add 5,500 hospital beds to the current 31,088.

Developing new hospitals is considered a measure to deal with the current overload at the city’s hospitals. However, most of the projects are making slow progress given funding constraints, while there have emerged problems with site clearance, land planning and expensive foreign design consultancy.

Minister of Health Nguyen Thi Kim Tien said at the meeting that HCMC could hardly rely on the money raised from government bond sales and sourced from the ministry to finance the hospital projects, especially at a time when the Government is tightening public spending.

Since new hospitals are not up and running in 3-4 years’ time, Minister Tien suggested, centrally-managed hospitals transfer their technology to district-level hospitals, and the renowned hospitals should join hands with certain district hospitals and let them serve as their branches.

Tien cited surveys by several centrally-run hospitals saying that 40-60% of the patients could receive effective examinations and treatments at district-level hospitals, but still preferred higher-level hospitals.

A report by the city’s health department showed that patients from other provinces coming to HCMC for medical examinations and treatments increased from 34.8% of the total in 2008 to 39.1% in 2010 and 40.8% in 2011. Inpatients from other localities also picked up from 52.6% in 2008 to 58.2% last year.

SGT

Bird flu spreads to nine provinces

The Department of Animal Health under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, on February 14 announced that the H5N1 bird flu had spread across nine provinces in Vietnam.  

The department said that three new provinces have now been affected, namely the northern provinces of Bac Giang, Thai Nguyen and the Mekong delta province of Kien Giang. 

All in all, the H5N1 bird flu virus has now spread to the northern provinces of Thanh Hoa, Hai Duong, Hai Phong, Thai Nguyen, Bac Giang, the central provinces of Quang Tri, Ha Tinh, and the Mekong delta provinces of Soc Trang and Kien Giang. 

The virus has also infected over 12,000 poultry in the country. According to the Steering Board of Avian Flu Prevention, the disease did not occur during the same period as last year; therefore, medical experts blame halt on vaccinations.

Accordingly, a vaccination drive should be implemented at the earliest to prevent an epidemic. Related agencies have purchased 100 million vaccines from China and have provided vaccines from stockpile for 13 southern provinces.

To tackle the spread of the H5N1 bird flu virus, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has established seven teams in 48 provinces and cities to help prevent the spread of the disease. 

On the same day, Le Dinh Son, deputy chairman of the People’s Committee in the central province of Ha Tinh said water fowl in Ky Anh District died en masse, without a clear reason. The province Department of Animal Health took samples for tests which proved positive for bird flu virus.

SGGP

Vietnamese immigrant wins $1 million from lottery in US

Vietnamese immigrant wins $1 million from lottery in US

An overseas Vietnamese living in Utica, the US, has won a million dollar after buying a scratch-off lottery ticket at a store on his way home from work.

"We are here at Vernon Downs Casino and Hotel to introduce Oneida County's first lottery millionaire of 2012," said a spokeswoman for the New York State Lottery on February 14 when the award ceremony was underway.

On January 13, Hung Tran played a scratch-off lottery game called ‘20 Times the Money’ - a game that has turned into a real-life cash flow.

"On this particular game, the odds on this game were one in 2.6 million," said Christy Calicchia of the New York State Lottery.

The payout breaks down to $33,000 a year through 2031.

Tran who speaks very little English had no problems reading the zeros on his check. Through a translator, he said on February 14 that he will put the money into his retirement fund, and send some of the payout to his family in Vietnam.

The translator said “he was very humble and excited about winning when entering our customer service centre in Syracuse to claim his prize."

Tran had bought the ticket at Hannaford on Mohawk Street in Utica.

WKTV News

HCM City: Sensitive services under microscope

HCM City: Sensitive services under microscope

VietNamNet Bridge – HCM City authorities have asked relevant agencies to inspect sensitive service providing firms and strictly punish the firms that break the law.

Relevant agencies inspect a restaurant in District 5, HCM City.

The city authorities also asked districts to restrict the development of sensitive services, which include karaoke bars, restaurants, night clubs, discotheques, etc.

The Department of Planning and Investment is instructed to review the business licensing procedures for sensitive services and combine with related agencies to impose administrative fines on violating firms.

The municipal government also asked the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, Department of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs and districts to set up inspection teams to check sensitive service providing firms.

HCM City, Vietnam’s largest city has 25,000 sensitive service providing firms, with over 20,000 waitresses. Of this number, there are 90 discotheques, nearly 900 restaurants and karaoke bars, more than 3,000 hotels, nearly 13,000 massage centers, coffee shops, etc. Prostitution has been detected at some of these centers.

These centers are mainly located on 54 key roads in the city, such as Ngo Van Nam, Pham Ngu Lao, Bui Vien, Nguyen Thi Minh Khai, Nguyen Binh Khiem in District 1, Phan Dang Luu in Phu Nhuan District, Cong Hoa in Tan Binh District, Van Lang and Hoa Binh Park in District 5.

Le Thu

First Vietnamese catches swine flu

First Vietnamese catches swine flu

VietNamNet Bridge – A two year old girl in the southern province of Long An has been reported to be the first patient who was infected with swine flu (A/H3N2). The little girl has been well again.

According to the Preventive Health Agency, this case was recorded in April 2011. The World Health Organization’s laboratory in the USA has recently confirmed this case.

This is the first case of its kind in Vietnam. With mild symptoms, the patient quickly recovered. There was no evidence of the disease transmission from human to human. Since April 2011, Vietnam has not detected any similar case.

The Ministry of Health has asked relevant agencies to strengthen supervision to early detect similar cases and combined with the WHO to conduct epidemic inspection of this case.

Meanwhile, bird flu is spreading in many provinces. So far this year, Vietnam has had two H5N1 patients and both of them have died.

Thu Ha

Hundreds of parking lots ignore Hanoi authorities’ ban

Hundreds of parking lots ignore Hanoi authorities’ ban

VietNamNet Bridge – Hundreds of parking lot still opened on February 15, though Hanoi’s ban of parking on pavements and roads took effect that day.

Hanoi: Where to park? Ha Noi bans vehicle parking in 262 streets

A parking lot on Dinh Tien Hoang Street.

The Hanoi People’s Committee on February 15 began to close hundreds of parking lots on pavements and roads in 262 streets of nine districts. However, many parking lots still operated.

Dinh Tien Hoang in Hoan Kiem District is in the list but the parking lot in front of the Hanoi Post Office still opened in the morning of February 15. Employees there affirmed that the parking lot still worked as normal. A plate with listed parking fees was placed on the pavement.

Also on Dinh Tien Hoang, bikes and cars parked in lines at the Dong Kinh Nghia Thuc square. Staffs of Hanh Ly Company, which runs the parking lot, said they knew about the ban but they were not told to close the parking lot.

Similarly, parking lots on pavements in Phu Doan Street, Hoan Kiem District, was still crowded. As the pavement was fully occupied, these parking lots allowed cars to park on the road, causing traffic jams in the morning.

Many other streets that are in the list also operated on February 15.

Many readers have emailed VietNamNet, showing their support to the ban. “The ban should have been issued for a long time because parking lots on streets caused a lot of inconvenience,” wrote Doan Tien Dung.

Nguyen Hong Chau, who owns a fashion shop on Hang Dao Street, said that parking lots occupied road and pavement and caused congestion in the Hanoi Old Quarter. 

However, some people said that without these parking lots, they do not know where to park. They proposed to maintain parking lots around the Hoan Kiem Lake, where the road is clear.

Vice chief inspector of the Hanoi Department of Transport, Hoang Van Manh, said that the department had informed and withdrawn licenses of parking lots in the list.

Manh said that transport inspectors would begin checking and punishing violators as of February 16.

Vehicles still parked on Hanoi’s streets on February 15:

A parking lot on Dinh Tien Hoang Street.





Bao Khanh Street.





Trang Thi Street.





Nha Chung Street.





Tho Nhuom Street.





19/2 Road.






At the Central Obstetrics Hospital.





Vietnam-Germany Hospital.











Trieu Quoc Dat Street.





Phu Doan Street.





Van Mieu Street.





Ngoc Khanh Street.





Giang Vo Street.

Ly Hoa