Hospital discharge means contaminated water for thousands

Untreated wastewater released into the environment by the Dien Ban District General Hospital in Quang Nam Province is affecting thousands of residents in the district, a report said Wednesday.

The report, submitted to provincial authorities by Dien Ban District Construction and Water Supply-Draining Enterprise, said the hospital’s exhaust pipes were discharging its wastewater into Vinh Dien River at a spot less than 400m from the enterprise’s water pumping station. The river water is taken when the tide comes in, so it mixes with the hospital’s wastewater, which is then processed to supply water to 2,600 households with more than 10,000 residents. Reported by Ho Trong

Conjoined twins divided in HCMC

Doctors from the Ho Chi Minh City Children’s Hospital No. 1 have successfully separated conjoined twins that were attached at the heart.

The two babies were born attached from collarbone to the navel on February 5 in the central highlands’ Dak Nong Province. Their livers and parts of their hearts were attached. Each suffers from heart disease and the pair weigh a total of 3.4 kilograms. The surgery was conducted on Friday by a team of seven doctors and four other medical workers, led by the hospital’s Deputy Director Dao Trung Hieu. The twins were released from the hospital Wednesday. Hospital Director Tang Chi Thuong said Wednesday it was the most complicated conjoined twins surgery the hospital had ever conducted. He said the conjoined livers had made the procedure particularly complex. The Children Hospital No. 1 is set to receive another pair of conjoined twins from the south-central province of Binh Thuan. The babies were born by caesarean section around 3 p.m. Wednesday at An Phuoc General Hospital in Binh Thuan Province. It was 24-year-old mother Nguyen Thi Dieu Hien’s first birth. An Phuoc General Hospital Director Phan Ngoc Hung said the two female babies weighed a total of 3.3 kilograms and were born attached at the abdomen. But they shared no internal organs, he said. The caesarean was conducted after 32 weeks of pregnancy when the mother showed signs of giving premature birth. Reported by Thanh Tung – Que Ha

Mosquito breeding no walk in the park

Pham Thi Hoan, a member of the mosquito-raising team at the National Institute of Malariology, Parasitology and Entomology, helps mosquitoes mate under a microscope Raising mosquitoes for vaccine research may not be the world’s most dangerous job, but scientists do risk catching malaria for the cause.

When Pham Thi Hoan wants to feed her mosquitoes, she simply puts her arm in their enclosure and lets them take a few bites. Though mosquito breeders like Hoan provide the insects for vaccine research at the National Institute of Malariology, Parasitology and Entomology, a few scientists have actually caught malaria this way. But Hoan says they have no choice. “We have to be very careful,” she says. Whereas mosquito farms in other countries often feed the insects with a pre-prepared mix of human blood and chemicals, Hoan says the Vietnamese institute doesn’t have any of the special feed. But she’s ready to give for the cause and make sacrifices, “just like raising your own babies,” she says. All in a day’s work After cleaning the insects’ water trays, checking the mosquitoes health and feeding the larvae a blend of ground green peas, breadcrumbs and dried shrimp, Hoan says she often helps around 10 pairs of mosquitoes mate each morning. They need to be forced into it as they lose many natural instincts in the institute’s controlled environment. To breed the mosquitoes, Hoan sedates a male and female with ether and must manually place the male’s appendage inside the female. Hoan, who has worked here for more than 10 years, says another delicate task is ensuring that the room stays between 25 and 30 degrees Celsius at all times. Otherwise, the insects might die. “Some nights during the northeastern monsoons, we have to stay here all night adjusting the air conditioner or boiling water to increase the moisture and keep the mosquitoes warm.” Mosquito hunters Dr. Vu Dinh Chu, a colleague of Hoan’s, has recently returned from a mosquito hunting trip in the central province of Phu Yen. Having collected some 100 mosquitoes on the week-long trip, he says he can catch about 20 bugs on a good day. His recent catch includes Anopheles dirus, which carries malaria in the central region. Chu’s team has raised the species since 2006. They have also bred Anopheles minimus and Anopheles epiroticus, other vectors of malaria in the south-central coastal province of Binh Thuan. They also breed Culex quinquefasciatus, which carries Japanese encephalitis. But mosquito hunting is not easy. To catch the insects, the hunters camp out in the forests for days at a time, usually only catching the bugs at night. Hoan said they often have to use their legs as bait, again putting them at risk for malaria. Hoa Binh Province in the north and Ho Chi Minh City’s Can Gio District are the prime hunting spots. The scientists often hide in pigpens and bushes, then catch the insects with nets. But once they get the mosquitoes back to the institute, it’s very difficult to keep them alive. Outside their natural environment, the mosquitoes sometimes don’t eat at all and die en masse immediately after being caught. But thanks to the efforts of those like Hoan and Chu, the mosquito farm provides some 20,000 mosquitoes for vaccine research at the institute every year. Source: TT, LD

Driver guilty of M6 family deaths

Da Silva has been found guilty of causing the Stathams' deaths

A Portuguese lorry driver has been jailed for causing the deaths of a family of six by careless driving.

David and Michelle Statham and their four children, from Llandudno, north Wales, died when a lorry hit their car as they travelled home from Birmingham.

Paulo Jorge Nogueira da Silva, 46, had denied causing the deaths by dangerous driving or by careless driving on the M6 in Cheshire last October.

He was jailed for three years by a judge at Chester Crown Court.

Da Silva was convicted of six counts of causing death by careless driving by a majority verdict of 11-1. He was found not guilty of causing death by dangerous driving.

Relatives give their reaction to Da Silva's sentence

After the verdict, Michelle's father Peter Hagans said his family had been devastated Da Silva was found guilty of the "lesser charge".

He said: "I think from the night of the accident when Mr da Silva butchered our family, which I believe he did, it was not possible to get justice in a British court."

Thirty-eight-year-old chef Mr Statham and Michelle, 33, who were originally from Sutton Coldfield, made the journey to the Midlands partly to introduce their 10-week-old baby, Ellouise, to family and friends.

They were also travelling with sons Reece, 13, Jay, nine, and Mason, 20 months as they headed home from visiting Mrs Statham's parents.

However, the family died when their silver people carrier burst into flames after it was involved in a five-vehicle pile-up between junctions 16 and 17 on the M6.

The Statham family were killed when their car burst into flames

Andrew Thomas QC, prosecuting, had told the jury there was a possibility that at the time of the crash Da Silva was using a global positioning system on his laptop computer to work out an alternative route.

Da Silva denied using the computer while he was driving, but police found it by the driver's seat with the screen turned to face the driver.

Speaking to the court the judge, Mr Justice Irwin, said: "Anyone who has heard of the case could not help but have strong, indeed overwhelming, sympathy for the families of those who died, a whole family wiped out."

Sentencing da Silva, the judge said: "I bear in mind the maximum sentence is five years.

"Although six deaths, this was one episode and the prison sentences must be concurrent.

"This was one of the most serious offences of its kind."

Da Silva was told he would serve at least 18 months of his sentence in jail.

Court 'a circus'

Outside court, Cheshire chief crown prosecutor Ian Rushton said evidence showed the Stathams' car was crushed between a large lorry, which had been queuing in a long tailback because of an earlier accident, and Da Silva's truck.

Mr Rushton said Da Silva admitted in court he had seen the electronic signs warning the M6 was closed and slowed down as a result "but could not explain how the collision happened".

"The prosecution said that it was clear that for a period of around a minute, Paulo da Silva was not paying proper attention to the road and fatally hit the Stathams' van with his 40-tonne lorry," Mr Rushton said.

Expressing his anger at the sentence, Mr Hagans told a news conference the court was "not much more than a circus".

He said: "The only difference being that the man in red in the circus wears a top hat and not a wig."

Mr Stratham's uncle, Alan Moult, added the deaths had left all his family "very empty".

Tropical diseases swarm Hanoi, HCMC

A patient is being treated for chicken-pox, a common illness among kids, at the HCMC’s Children Hospital No. 1 Unusual weather has caused dengue fever, measles and chicken-pox cases to rise sharply in different areas of Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.

Dengue fever has shown no signs of a let-up in HCMC since early this year, doctors say. HCMC -based hospitals say since last month around 1,400 people have been hospitalized with dengue fever, up 200 cases over the same period last year. Around 200 cases have been reported per week, they add. The doctors attribute the epidemic to unseasonal rains in the city, causing mosquitoes to multiply prolifically in several districts. Symptoms of dengue fever, a common mosquito-borne disease in developing countries, include high flu-like fever, skin rashes and severe pain in the head and limbs. HCMC’s districts 8, Thu Duc, Tan Binh, and Tan Phu are worst hit with the cases of dengue fever up by as much as 300 percent over the same period last year, says Nguyen Dac Tho, deputy director of the city’s Health Preventive Center. Tho, who was speaking at a meeting Friday with health agencies in 24 districts, instructed local health leaders to take precautionary measures against the disease. He also warned residents to remain vigilant and contain the epidemic. Dengue fever is transmitted by daytime-biting mosquitoes and international health organizations recommend people try and avoid being bitten by using insect repellant and wearing long-sleeved shirts and long pants. Other tropical diseases like chickenpox, measles, rubella, or mumps have also spread across HCMC and Hanoi as the winter-spring period is very conducive to their development, says Dr. Nguyen Phuong Hoa Binh of Children’s Hospital No. 2 in HCMC. Since last month, Children’s Hospital No. 1 has admitted around 300 patients with chicken-pox, says Dr. Truong Huu Khanh. Chickenpox is a common illness among kids, particularly those under age 12. An itchy rash of spots that look like blisters can appear all over the body and may be accompanied by flu-like symptoms. Symptoms usually go away without treatment, but because the infection is very contagious, an infected child should stay at home and rest until the symptoms are gone, doctors advise. At Hanoi’s Dermatology Hospital, between seven and 10 children have been hospitalized every day since the beginning of the year with chicken pox. The worst outbreak of measles over the past decade has hit Hanoi, with at least 600 people affected over the past month, and has started to spread to children, the Central Children’s Hospital said Friday. Around seven to 10 children suffering measles have been hospitalized per day, the hospital says. Measles is a virus usually contracted during childhood. Symptoms usually include rashes and inflammation of the nose, throat, ears, mouth and bronchi, with adults the most prone to more serious complications. The National Institute of Tropical and Infectious Diseases said the last severe measles outbreak had occurred more than 10 years ago but most of the patients then were teenagers. Inoculation rush The measles outbreak in Hanoi and HCMC has sent people scurrying to hospitals and health centers to have themselves and their children vaccinated. Tran Ngoc Huu, head of the HCMC Pasteur Institute says the soaring demand has resulted in a shortage of the vaccine. To Thi Tuyet Mai, director of HCMC’s Cu Chi District Preventive Center, says the center has had to handle up to 10 vaccination cases per day from one to two during normal days. It would take another seven to ten days before the next shipment of the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine arrives in Vietnam while demand for it has skyrocketed, says Do Sy Hien, an official of the National Extended Vaccination Program. The Ministry of Health Friday instructed local governments to prepare enough of the measles vaccines to meet demand. Reported by Thanh Nien staff

Disabled boy drowns in unfenced manhole

The manhole which is part of a school construction project in Phu Yen Province where 12- year-old Nguyen Tan Quoc drowned on Sunday A mentally disabled child in south central Phu Yen Province died on Sunday after falling into a manhole.

Nguyen Tan Quoc, 12, who suffered from congenital brain damage, was found dead in the 1.5-meter-deep pit, which was dug to take water for construction at An Dinh Commune Primary School in Tuy An District. Quoc was the youngest of Nguyen Van Dung’s four children. Two other children also suffer from congenital brain damage of whom only Quoc was able to walk. As his wife Doan Thi Tuyet cares for the children, Dung is the sole breadwinner but he makes less than VND300,000 (US$17) a month. Dung said “I was shocked by the news.” “My family has reported the accident to local authorities and is waiting for them to give an explanation.” As of Monday afternoon, the pit had not been fenced or filled up. Tuy An District Department of Education and Training is the investor of the project, which is being carried out by the district-based Thanh My Construction Cooperative. Pham Van Ba, chairman of An Dinh Commune People’s Committee, said district police are investigating the case. Ba said, “The sad death is a lesson for us.” He promised to make the contractor fence off the hole. Many parents had voiced concern that the unfenced hole was directly in front of the nursery school of the commune’s Dinh Trung No.1 village. The village head, Nguyen Van Tho, said if the contractor had informed local officials about the hole, they would have fenced it off and there wouldn’t have been such a “tragic accident.” Tho also pointed out three other unfenced manholes near An Dinh Commune Primary School in the village, part of a canal project invested in by Tuy An District People’s Committee. Teacher Do Van Anh of the school said he had asked authorities to protect students’ safety many times but only received “silence.” On December 31 last year, sevenyear-old Ngo Hoang Vo died when he fell in a manhole on the bank of the Nhieu Loc-Thi Nghe Canal, which is part of Ho Chi Minh City environment hygiene project. Vo was busking that night, entertaining guests at pubs with circus performances, Tuoi Tre newspaper reported, saying the boy never begged. The Chinese contractor responsible for the manhole settled with Vo’s family out of court and compensated them VND86 million ($4,900), including VND46 million ($2,600) for the funeral. Manholes in HCMC caused the deaths of several children last year. Reported by Duc Huy – Trinh Ke

The milk of human unkindness overfloweth

We’re faced with another possible milk crisis. Results of a recent annual inspection of dairy products by health authorities have shocked consumers.

Thirty seven of the 99 milk samples tested had protein content much lower, by up to 30 times, than their labels indicated. Four samples had “very little” protein, about 1.2 - 1.6 percent for 100 grams, and one sample that advertised 24 percent had only 0.5 percent. Some products used for older people and toddlers were marked to contain 30 percent protein, but had only 2.5 percent in reality. Obviously, producers have not only been pick-pocketing customers, but also injuring their health in the process. The old can be robbed off the opportunity to enjoy a healthy, vigorous life, and the long term health prospects of the future generation can be undermined. But who will take responsibility for inking the “approved” stamp for the poor quality products found in markets and shops all over the country? The deceit of milk producers has not been properly reported until recently, although it had been detected by the Vietnam Standards and Consumer Protection Association last October. The irresponsibility and unaccountability of relevant agencies should be seen as abetting a criminal act as the low-quality milk will directly affect the growth of children and the health of old people, who use milk the most. And who knows one day we might have to learn the lesson of “China’s melamine,” here in Vietnam. Until now, nearly 300,000 Chinese babies haven’t yet recovered completely from the plastic-producing chemical. Six of them will forever be remembered as babies by their grieving parents. Milk is different from other products. It is intrinsic to human health and no one has the right to fool around with it. The chairwoman of Sanlu Group was jailed for life over China’s melamine scandal and fined US$3.6 million. What was or will be the punishment in Vietnam? A slap on the wrist with a fine of a few million dong? Would the cancellation of their license be punishment enough to stop immoral and corrupt practices in the future? Or would they just encourage the establishment of a new company, and back to business as usual? Do we want that? Or better still, can we afford it? By Thai Thanh Van

Measles outbreak hits northern region

Measles patients receive treatment at the National Institute of Tropical and Infectious ANG Diseases in Hanoi. Health officials say about 340 patients have been diagnosed with the virus over the past month. Vietnam is experiencing its worst measles outbreak in 29 years, health officials have said.

Around 340 people have been diagnosed with the virus over the past month. Most patients are adults from Hanoi or nearby Hoa Binh and Hung Yen provinces. Nguyen Hong Ha from the National Institute of Tropical and Infectious Diseases in Hanoi said the last severe measles outbreak had occurred in 1982 but most of the patients then were teenagers. Ha said the adult measles patients admitted to the institute were suffering complications such as meningitis and encephalitis. Measles is a virus usually contracted during childhood, he said. Symptoms usually include a rash and inflammation of the nose, throat, ears, mouth and bronchi, with adults the most prone to serious complications. Ha said seven patients, or 2 percent of the total number reported, were in critical condition, compared to the acceptable 0.1 percent ratio. As of Tuesday, five of the patients were being treated in the institute’s special section. The other two patients - a doctor from Hoa Binh Province and a student from Hanoi Medical University - have recovered. Ha warned that the disease was highly infectious, with those who contract the virus likely to experience a fever and aches a couple of days before the rash appears. The progress of the disease will either stop there or become more critical, he said. Ha advised patients to seek medical advice to determine whether they had measles. Those with the disease needed to be quarantined to try to contain the outbreak. Nguyen Tran Hien, head of the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology, said more adults had been succumbing to the disease because they had no immunity. Hien said for the past few years, Vietnamese authorities could only afford one measles vaccination for children from nine to 11 months of age, not the booster shot recommended at age six. Reported by Nam Son

Avian influenza spreads in Ca Mau

A bird flu epidemic has swept through two communes in the southernmost province of Ca Mau, forcing authorities to destroy more than 3,000 ducks.

An official from the provincial Bird Flu Prevention Committee said after the virus broke out in the flock belonging to Nguyen Van Dong in Khanh Binh Commune late last month, the disease spread to nine more household duck flocks in Khanh Binh and Khanh Binh Dong communes. Five out of nine hamlets in Khanh Binh have been infected, with hundreds of ducks in three Khanh Binh Dong households tested positive to the H5N1A virus. The outbreak is the first this year in Ca Mau Province. Reported by Tran Thanh Phong

Your say

Thanh Nien Daily welcomes readers’ responses and publishes them in its Monday edition.

Please be succinct, brief and to the topic. We reserve the right to edit comments to fit space. A legitimate mailing address and phone number are required. Please direct your comments to: editor@thanhniennews.com Resorts: going green or not quite? With the rapid growth of "eco tourism" practically every new (and many an old) resort has picked up on the worldwide concern for the environment and, in its advertising at least, describes itself as "green" and an "eco-lodge.” My wife and I recently made a tour of such resorts in Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam and Sabah in Borneo, and found only one or two that have made a real effort to apply green standards. What are green standards? Unfortunately, there are none - at least as can be easily and universally applied. There are, however, questions by which to judge how green and environmentally responsible a resort has become: 1) Does the resort have low environmental impact, using recycling, sustainable energy and local construction materials? 2) Is the resort community-based - that is, supporting the local community - so that its economic benefits flow into the local economy? 3) Does the resort connect guests to cultures on an authentic level? 4) Does the resort impact local conservation initiatives? To get a better idea of how these principles have been successfully applied, National Geographic has created an interactive world map of 50 resorts which meet these criteria, representing diverse landscapes and locales, and all price ranges. The list is not exhaustive, especially with the rapid growth of the industry but if you really want to be green, forget the hype and ask these serious questions. You will have a much better experience if you do. Tom Miller* *The writer is the co-founder of the Vietnam Green Building Council A big ‘Thank’ you Hi, I just wanted to say how valuable your newspaper [www.thanhniennews.com] is to our family. I am an American who married a wonderful Vietnamese woman. She has come with me to the US but her heart is always with her homeland. Your English news outlet helps me stay informed about important events in Vietnam. We have a lot of lively discussions about events in her country. Thanks for keeping me informed. I hope to come back to Vietnam later this year. Tom Mathews California, USA

Avian flu vaccine trial to move into second phase

The Ministry of Health has approved the launch of the second phase of the H5N1 avian flu vaccine trial on about 200 volunteers.

The first stage was carried out last year on 30 people including some scientists of the research group and the vaccine, produced by the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology, proved safe. Resurfacing in Asia in late 2003, the virus has infected 399 people worldwide and killed 252, including 52 in Vietnam, according to the World Health Organization. Reported by Nam Son

Vietnam to maintain free ARV drugs supply program after 2012

Local production and purchases from neighboring countries are options under consideration as Vietnam prepares to continue free distribution of antiretroviral drugs after global sponsorship of the program ends in 2012.

Bui Duc Duong, deputy head of the Vietnam Administration of HIV/AIDS Control (VAAC) under the Health Ministry, told Thanh Nien that the country will produce ARV drugs at a reasonable price as one of the solutions. At present two domestic companies are producing ARV drugs that are used for first-line treatment, but they are yet to have pre-test certification from the World Health Organization (WHO) and be certified by the US Food and Drug Administration, Duong said. “So, the drugs for AIDS patients have mostly come from sponsors,” he added. VAAC plans to cooperate with WHO and certify domestic ARV drug manufacturers, and since locally produced drugs are less costly than imported ones, they will decrease costs and enable distribution through the local health insurance system, he added. Another plan is to import drugs from the Southeast Asian region also at reasonable prices. Vietnam now has 207 locations nationwide distributing ARV drugs for free, meeting 42.7 percent of the demand, Duong said. It is estimated that by December this year 35,000 patients, including 2,500 children, will be given ARV drugs, he said, adding that the patients who are in need of the second-line treatment, which calls for supplementary new drugs, are increasing. Duong said the ARV treatment program will be expanded to more locations to include new patients, while adequate supply of drugs for older patients will be maintained. Started in 2004, the program sponsored by international agencies including the US President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, and Clinton’s HIV/AIDS Initiative has been providing free ARV drugs for HIV/AIDS patients. To receive free ARV drugs, patients must meet requirements and have to commit themselves to voluntary and long-term treatment, Duong said. Reported by Lien Chau