SOCIAL IN BRIEF 5/4

Temple and statue of first conventional school doctor opened

A temple dedicated to Nguyen Thi Lo, the first recognised female conventional school doctor in the Vietnamese history has recently inaugurated in Tan Le Commune, Hung Ha District, Thai Binh Province.

A bronze statue of Nguyen Thi Lo with 2.71m in height, 1.4m in weight, placed on a 1.5 m high pedestal beside the temple.

Together with two temples of Khuyen Luong in Hanoi and Le Chi Garden in Bac Ninh, this temple is a show of gratitude to the talented woman in the national history, who was also the wife of World Cultural Celebrity Nguyen Trai in the Le Dynasty in the 15th Century.

Former Vifon CEO prosecuted and arrested

Nguyen Bi, former chief executive officer of the Vietnam Food Industries Joint Stock Company (Vifon) has been prosecuted for ‘taking advantage of his position and power while performing his assignment’ in accordance with the article 281 of the Penal Code.

When assuming the chief executive officer, Nguyen Bi intentionally spent over US$200,000 from the company’s rewards and welfare funds without the consent of the leadership and trade union.

Of the total sum, Nguyen Bi pocketed US$90,000.

Besides, Nguyen Bi was accused of making a blank check of VND 1.8 billion for his own interest, and then demanded deputy chief executive officer Nguyen Thanh Huyen and the accounting department wrote vouchers without pay to regularise the amount of money.

Earlier, Nguyen Thanh Huyen had been arrested and put in 4-month custody.

1,898 prize-winners in national outstanding students’ contests 2009

There are 1,898 candidates out of 3,834 candidates winning prizes in the National Outstanding Students’ Contest 2009, according to the recent announcement of the Ministry of Education and Training.

43 first prizes were awarded to students in subjects: Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Informatics, Literature, History, Geography, English, Russian and Chinese. On the other hand, there are 364 second prizes, 714 third prizes and 777 consolation prizes.

The contest has recognised 8 students winning first prizes in Physics, 7 in Chemistry, 5 in Informatics, 4 in Biology and 3 in Literature.

For the second time in succession, Nam Dinh province ranks first in the number of the first prizes (seven prizes), followed by Da Nang, Vinh Phuc and the gifted secondary school of the Vietnam National University, Hanoi, with 5 first prizes.

A poor woman donates land to build school

Ms. Y Ria residing in Dak Tram commune, Dak To district, Kon Tum province has decided to donate over 1000 square metres of her land to build a school, although she is poor, living on the State’s allowances.

Ms Y Ria said: “When I saw kindergarten children learning in a dilapidated and narrow bamboo house, I feel so sorry for them”.

Having learned that Te Phia commune’s kindergarten will build a spacious classroom if there is land for it, she donated over 1,000 square metres of her land for this purpose.

Bac Lieu town’s official prosecuted

43-year-old Chau Quoc Tri, deputy head of Bac Lieu town’s Department of Natural Resources and Environment cum director of Office for Registering for Land-Use Rights has been prosecuted for allegedly committing a charge of ‘lacking sense of responsibility, thus causing a heavy loss of the State’s property’.

According to Bac Lieu province’s Investigation Police, Chau Quoc Tri lacked sense of responsibility, thus creating a gap for his junior officials to set up a ring to supply forged certificates of land-use rights to locals to receive illegal kick-backs with a total sum of over VND 1.2 billion.

In relation to this case, 18 other offenders have been prosecuted, most of them are cadastral officials at the town, communal and ward levels.

Orphans on Cam mountain assisted

Le Van Trien, a Vietnamese American, 45 years of age, have provided over US$45,000 support for Mr. Nguyen Tan Bong to bring up orphans on Mo Coi peak of Cam mountain in An Hao commune, Tinh Bien district, An Giang province.

Mr. Nguyen Tan Bong, a demobilised soldier, has brought up 11 abandoned children and orphans despite difficulties in his life.

Every day, Mr. Bong has to till the fields and work as a hired hand by carrying vegetables and fruit to earn some money for these children.

Having read the online articles on Mr. Bong’s kindness, Mr. Trien decided to save money to help Mr. Bong build a house at the foot of Cam mountain so as to facilitate him and his children in their lives and work.

55,000 poor people get free health examination and medicine delivery

The Ho Chi Minh City Young Doctors’ Association organised a lot of phases of free health examinations and treatments and delivery of medicines for over 55,000 poor people and young workers in the southern region.

In the 2008 volunteer campaigns ‘Green Summer’ and ‘Pink Vacation’, the association also participated the free medicine delivery and health examination for nearly 4,000 poor people in Laos with a total cost of nearly VND 500 million.

The association currently has 1,143 members.

It aims to develop 1,000 more members, provide free eye surgeries for 600 patients and free health examination and tooth extraction for over 100,000 people.

VND 15 billion loans given to students

3,750 university and college students have got VND 15 billion loans given by the Dak Nong Bank for Social Policies, raising the total number of students getting loans to 5,625 with a total outstanding debt of VND 45 billion.

To create favourable conditions for all the students to get loans for their study, besides the simplification of lending procedures, the bank in close co-ordination with local unions and organisations has deployed capital lending to communes and promote disseminating information about the loans.

Therefore, many people in the remote and far-flung areas in the province have actively accessed the preferred loans to cover their children’ studying expenses.

Quang Ninh declares itself free of bird flu

The northern Quang Ninh provincial People’s Committee on April 2 declared itself free of bird flu in Ha Khanh and Dai Yen wards of Ha Long city, Xom Giao hamlet of Dam Ha commune, and Na Cang hamlet of Quang An commune.

In addition, the people’s committee also reported that the commune of Quang Duc in Hai Ha district had finally eradicated foot-and-mouth disease.

The province said it will mothball temporary quarantine stations but have directed the relevant agencies and local authorities to increase controls on the slaughter of poultry and ensure the hygiene safety of poultry products and prevent any new outbreaks.

Dien Bien sees a sharp increase in tourist arrivals

Dien Bien province has welcomed 74,500 tourists since the beginning of this year, an increase of 75 percent compared to the same period last year.

The economic turnover from tourism has reached VND28 billion, up three fold against the same period last year. This is a result of the tourism advertising campaign to prepare for celebrations of the 55^th anniversary of the historical Dien Bien Phu military victory and other festivals, organised by the provincial department of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

Dien Bien province has completed many projects to conserve the Dien Bien Phu Victory Statue and the Him Lam centre to meet tourist demand to learn about the history and culture of the area.

The number of visitors to Dien Bien is predicted to increase sharply in April and May.

Heavy rain, whirlwind cause major damage in Ha Giang

A heavy rain, accompanied by a whirlwind badly hit Tan Trinh commune, Quang Binh district in the northern province of Ha Giang from 1am to 7am on April 4. It left 3 people seriously injured, destroyed 36 houses and blew off the roofs of 100 houses.

The three victims have been brought to the general hospital in Quang Binh district for emergency aid.

The Quang Binh district people’s committee is joining efforts with the provincial committee for flood prevention and control to move the affected families to safety and calling for relief from the surrounding areas.

PV