The Health Ministry (MoH) is planning a nationwide crack down on food safety violators and the building of standards for food hygiene in general, said a Health Ministry official.

At the top of the list of a new MoH plan is a public awareness campaign on food safety, to be followed by a system to manage food hygiene, a programme to analyse the risks of food pollution, a system to examine food poisoning and food transmitted diseases, a greater number of food inspections and the doling out of stricter punishments to violators.

The country's medical sector is also expected to become a major contributor to the initiative by boosting scientific research and application of hygiene standards in the area.

The new directives come hard on the heels of the recent detection of carcinogens found in brands of soy sauce sold in markets across the country. (VNA)

Can Tho city’s disadvantaged people receive aid

Can Tho city in the Mekong delta has recently become the beneficiary of medical aid packages and funding provided to it by US and French based charitable organisations, reported the Vietnam News Agency from Can Tho province.

The Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation doled out VND 400 million (US$25,000) for a city project to build and repair houses for the physically challenged and Agent Orange/dioxin victims.

Can Tho also received medical equipment and 140 wheelchairs worth close to US$600,000 from the US’s Nehemiah organisation, France's Rhone Mekong Lyon and a Canadian wheelchair producer.

French-based Society of Obstetrics also handed over EUR 77,000 for a cervical cancer diagnosis programme.

Hanoi urban development project discussed

Vietnamese Ambassador to Germany Tran Duc Mau discussed measures to speed up the implementation of an EC project on Hanoi urban space development with Germany’s Mayor of Hannover, Stephan Weil.

The Vietnam News Agency reported from Berlin that the working session on June 7 was part of Vietnam’s efforts to attract investment from German enterprises.

Weil said he was pleased with his city’s participation in the “Hanoi looks toward the future” project, which is part of the European Commission (EC)’s Asia Urban Programme (Asia Urbs).

The two-year project has a total investment capital of EUR 740,000, of which 65% was funded by the EC. The Austrian capital city of Vienna contributed 14.5%; Hannover, 6.5% and Hanoi, 14%.

The project aims to map out an overall plan on Hanoi’s sustainable socio-economic development with focus on economic structure transfer, measures to increase the city’s competitiveness in the context of regional and international economic integration, and investment and business environment improvement.

Topping the project’s agenda are urban development measures such as equality, poverty reduction and sustainable development.

Over the past few years, the Asia Urbs programe, which aims to bridge nations sharing interests in urban development, has supported 14 urban development projects in Vietnam, including five in Hanoi.

Blood donors honoured for generosity

A programme to honour those who give the country donations more valuable than money - their own blood- was kicked off in the Mekong delta city of Can Tho on June 8.

The programme, the Vietnamese Heart's Journey, will see a hundred blood donors, many of whom have given blood 40-50 times over the years, in celebrations held throughout the tour.

Prominent among those is Doan Van Son, whose 57 donations are a national record. Son works for the Ho Chi Minh City Red Cross.

The tour, to end on June 14, is timed with World Blood Donor Day which has the theme "Donate blood for pregnant women and babies".

The tour passes through Ho Chi Minh City , the provinces of Phu Yen and Thua Thien-Hue, Hanoi, and Phu Tho province.

Co-organised by the Vietnam Red Cross, the Health Ministry, the World Health Organisation and the Institute of Hematology and Blood Transfusion, the event will also call for more people to join the nationwide blood drive, which aims to collect 1.6 million units of bloods.

The Health Ministry reported that it receives blood donated by around 300,000 people a year which only meets 30% of annual demand. (VNA)

Motorbike taxi drivers launch ambulance service

Motorbike taxi drivers in Hanoi have launched a grass-roots ambulance service to help save some of the nearly 12,000 Vietnamese who die annually in traffic accidents.

Members of the so-called “Safety Fleet” will be outfitted with first aid kits, uniforms and helmets. They are also expected to take courses in safe driving and first aid, said Nguyen Thi Hang Nga, Vice Chairman of the Red Cross Society of Thanh Xuan District.

The programme, launched by Counterpart International, an American non-profit organisation, is designed to expand the capital’s network of first responders and promote safe driving among Hanoi’s hundreds of motorcycle taxi drivers.

The project is active in the Hanoi's Tay Ho and Thanh Xuan districts and in the provinces of Da Nang and Khanh Hoa. In the last nine months, members of the team in Thanh Xuan District helped victims of about 40 accidents by performing first aid, taking them to hospital and keeping an eye on their valuables, according to Nguyen Thi Lan, a member of the team. Some city-dwellers have taken on calling the motorbike drivers “knights of the streets.”

According to Nguyen Thi Hoai Thu, manager of the programme, most trainees have a new perspective on road safety. While many used to ignore accidents, they are now willing to help victims in an effort to reduce road casualties.

Two experts from Honda Vietnam and Yamaha are giving driving lessons to the motorbike taxi drivers, Thu said.

The lessons focus on motorbike maintenance, observation, and avoiding accidents. Trainees will have the chance to learn first aid from members of the Red Cross Society. Police in Tay Ho District have also been invited to teach drivers how to prevent robberies. (VNA)

Remains of Vietnamese volunteers repatriated

Three sets of the remains of Vietnamese volunteer soldiers who laid down their lives in Laos were repatriated, the Vietnam News Agency reported from Hung Yen province.

A ceremony to receive the remains was held on June 8, with the attention of representatives from Military Region Three, local authorities, and the soldiers' families.

So far, 30 sets of the remains of Hung Yen province's fallen soldiers have been repatriated from Laos and Cambodia.