Social News 14/10 Chemical storage dump threatens HCMC residents HCM City's District 2 wants a chemical storage site near residential areas moved after years of complaints.  People living near Tan Cang-Cat Lai Port have complained for years about the 2.8 hectare site storing more than 330 chemical containers and tanks of flammable and toxic chemicals just 30 metres from homes and schools. Authorities of District 2 want the city to tell Saigon Newport to review its container storage and relocate the chemical dump. Fire fighters have also been asked to support the move. Pham Duc Hung, a senior executive at Saigon Newport Corporation, the management unit of the port, said people were worried that there might be similar incident to the Shandong chemical plant explosion in China, but maintained it was not a threat. "Cat Lai is a port, where goods are temporarily stored," Hung said. "Moreover, those containers are well-kept and have been through various ports in the world before reaching Vietnam." Hung said it would be difficult to relocate the facility, but while he promised to review fire safety protocols, he would ask the city for another site to store toxic chemicals. Two persons held for possession of marijuana The Ha Tinh Border Guards, in co-ordination with their partners in the central provinces of Quang Tri and Thua Thien-Hue, yesterday caught two people who were transporting 5kg of marijuana. The Ha Tinh Border Guards said last month they had smashed a heroin trafficking ring that extended from Laos to Viet Nam, with the ring leader being 28-year-old Tran Ngoc Toan from the northern Tuyen Quang Province. The criminals often transported the heroin via the Lao Bao Border Gate in the central Quang Tri Province and then sold it in Hue City. After investigating and monitoring their activities over a period, the border guards arrested Toan and his accomplice Truong Thi Nguyet, 45, from the central Thua Thien-Hue Province while they were transporting the drugs. Resolution No. 1, released in 2001 by the People's Supreme Court, says people caught transporting more than 600g of heroin will be sentenced to death.  US officials explore mine consequence recovery in Quang Tri   A working team led by Michael Rothstein, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Plans, Programs, and Operations in the US Department of State’s Bureau of Political-Military Affairs, visited the central province of Quang Tri from October 10-13.  The visit was to find out more about cooperative activities to address post-war bomb and mine consequences sponsored by the US Department of State in Quang Tri.  The team made field trips to projects underway in the province such as the Restoring the Environment and Neutralising the Effects of the War (Renew) in Dong Duong town, Hai Lang district, and in Quarter No 2, Cam Lo district, and the other run by the Mine Advisory Group in Tan Hiep hamlet, Cam Lo district.  They also visited the site where dogs are piloted for removing bombs and mines in Hai Lang district and the resettlement area in Ba Long commune, Dakrong district.  Quang Tri leaders pledged to effectively use financial assistance by the US Department of State and wished the Department to help raise the capability of the province’s steering committee for overcoming war consequences and local partners via attending training classes in Geneva, Switzerland, the JMU University, the US, and visit successful models in the world.  The province also hoped the Department would introduce US investors to invest in infrastructure, a sea port, tourism, service and trade in the Dong Nam (Southeast) Economic Zone, which was established under the Prime Minister’s approval.  Quang Tri has been cooperating with many organisations such as MAG (the United Kingdom), RENEW/NPA (Norway), Vietnam Peace Tree (the US) in bomb and mine clearance projects. Up to 17,760 contaminated hectares were cleared to build public buildings.  The projects have also removed nearly 420,000 bombs and explosive ordnances and helped raise awareness of local people on the issues. More than 270,000 children were guided about risks and safe behaviours with unexploded ordnances. The number of accidents was, therefore, reduced from 456 during 2001-2007 to 127 from 2008-2014. Quang Tri is one of the provinces most suffered in the war with 83 percent of its total land containing UXO.  Since 1975, 8,500 local people have fallen victim to UXO, 31 percent of whom are children. Community participation in policymaking discussed in Hanoi The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Vietnam, in collaboration with the international nongovernmental organisation Oxfam, held a seminar entitled “Between prestige and mechanism: The people’s participation and local elections in Vietnam” in Hanoi on October 13.  The event is the result of a research study conducted by the UNDP and Oxfam to analyse the participation of the community in the policymaking process. At the seminar, UNDP Country Director Louise Chamberlain said Vietnam has seen remarkable progress in economics and human development after three decades of reform. The country’s constitution and political structure have opened up opportunities for people to participate in public management via elections for the National Assembly and local People’s Councils. Participants proposed a number of measures to augment community participation in public management, including improving the implementation of feedback mechanisms to ensure the voice of the people is heard by the local administration. Issues with encouraging the participation of the ethnic minority group members through their native languages, policy restructuring to meet the common interests between the people and the administration, and improving management quality were also mentioned. Meeting marks Int’l Day for Natural Disaster Reduction A meeting was held in the central province of Thanh Hoa to mark the International Day for Natural Disaster Reduction and announce the 2015 World Disaster Report themed “Knowledge for Life.”  The event – jointly held by the Vietnam Red Cross Society, the International Federation of the Red Cross and the Red Crescent Society and the Steering Committee for the Northwest Region – aimed to raise public awareness of risks and threats facing the world.  The meeting also offered a chance to call for closer coordination among ministries and localities as well as international organisations in disaster relief and climate change response.  Vietnam is one of the five countries most affected by natural disasters and global climate change.  Each year, the country is hit by between five to seven storms and floods which seriously impacts 50 percent of the land and 70 percent of population.  Over recent years, the Vietnam Red Cross Society at all levels has provided knowledge and guidelines to volunteers and the public on how to prevent and respond to disasters while organising activities to support affected communities.  The society is implementing tens of international projects in the field, planting and protecting 24,000 hectares of forest in 11 localities nationwide, maintaining 44 centres for disaster prevention and relief and 26 centres for urgent response, and building over 27,500 houses serving Red Cross services.  During the event, the Red Cross Society’s teams and volunteers joined a rehearsal on disaster response at sea, rescuing fishermen and boats during storms.- Dak Nong connects remote areas to national grid More than 100 billion VND (4.45 million USD) has been poured into developing a comprehensive power network in the Central Highlands province of Dak Nong this year, said Tran Van Thuan, Director of the provincial Electricity Company on October 12.  Of the amount, 72 billion VND has been used to build 34 works and upgrade 49 others in 24 remote and border communes across the province, including transformer stations, cable grids and power metres, said Thuan.  Over the past year, the company has invested in installing more than 600 kilometres of cables and 161 transformer stations, thus connecting 10,500 households from 43 communes across the province to the national power grid.  The rate of households currently using electricity in the province is 94 percent. Vietnamese students receive ASEAN scholarships Twelve young and promising Vietnamese students were awarded the ASEAN Scholarship at a ceremony in Hanoi on October 12.  Administered by the Ministry of Education of Singapore, the ASEAN Scholarship aims to provide opportunities to the young people of ASEAN to develop their potential and equip them with important skills for the future.  Under the scholarship, Vietnamese students between the ages of 14 to 16 will have a chance to study in selected schools in Singapore for a period of four years, accumulating to pre-university qualification or the GCE “A” level certificate.  Speaking at the event, Singaporean Ambassador to Vietnam Ng Teck Hean encouraged the scholarship recipients to make good use of their time in Singapore to further their understanding of the country and make new friends there, so as to help foster closer people-to-people ties between Singapore and Vietnam. ILO supports Vietnamese trade unions The International Labour Organisation has announced plans to work with the Vietnam General Confederation of Labour to support trade unions across the country.  Director of ILO Vietnam Chang Hee Lee made the remark while working with President of the VGCL Dang Ngoc Tung in Hanoi on October 12.  The ILO will promote labourers’ rights in the workplace, identify sustainable occupational opportunities, increase social assistance and increase talks on job-related issues, he said.  The organisation is committed to working with the VGCL to run programmes in the field, while arranging funding for personnel training and research activities, he added.  Tung said he hopes the ILO will help Vietnamese trade unions to understand the impacts of Vietnam’s involvement in the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal on labour relations, international labour standards and the role of trade unions.  He called on the ILO to show domestic trade unions how to reform their organisations and operations, sharpen their negotiation skills and handle employment disputes.  The ILO is also expected to support Vietnamese efforts to protect migrant workers, increase vocational training and defend vulnerable groups, he said.  Over the years, the ILO has carried out a number of activities to assist Vietnamese trade unions, such as organising short training courses and national and international workshops, and helping the country revise legal documents on labour, trade unions and gender equality. Da Nang strives to lure more tourists during unseasonal months The central city of Da Nang has conducted a string of activities in order to attract more visitors during the off season when the number of tourists drops by half that in summer months. Tran Chi Cuong, Deputy Director of the municipal Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, said apart from road shows in Japan, his agency has organised familiarisation trips for foreign travel and press agencies to study the local tourism market. To lure more holiday-makers between September and the end of this year, many local tour operators and service suppliers have also launched attractive promotion packages with reduced prices on tickets, tours, accommodations and services. Do Dung, Deputy Head of the management board of the Ngu Hanh Son tourism site, said along with cultural and spiritual advantages, the reduction of ticket prices and other promotion activities would help draw more arrivals to the site, especially during the stormy season. Tourism insiders suggested municipal authorities encourage investments in building and upgrading indoor entertainment establishments such as the city’s opera house and museums. Da Nang should bid to host international events – especially art programmes, organise larger-scale traditional art performances and offer typical tourism products in an effort to attract more foreign visitors, they said. Under the city’s tourism development plan by 2020 with a vision towards 2030, Da Nang aims to become a tourism centre of the region, focusing on high-end products with a combination of leisure and sports and entertainment activities. Son Tra Ocean Park, for example, is being built at a cost of 300 million USD and is expected to be operational in 2017. The Tien Sa port and a number of museums are being upgraded while the Son Tra peninsula is projected to become a national tourism site in the near future. Cuong said along with products that connect localities at home and abroad, Da Nang is striving to improve the quality of services with special heed paid to personnel training, beautiful and safe tourism environments and public-awareness. Statistics showed that the central city has welcomed nearly 3.8 million visitors this year so far, earning 10.2 trillion VND (459 million USD), up 23.6 percent and 30.2 percent year-on-year, respectively. Of the figure, the number of international tourists stood at 860,000, up 31.8 percent. The number of domestic arrivals was nearly 2.9 million, a rise of 21.3 percent over the same period last year. Phu Yen opens highway for public use The Ministry of Transport, in co-ordination with the southcentral province of Phu Yen, today opened Highway No 1, which passes through the province, for public use. Work on the highway, which is 66.2km long, began in September 2013. The highway, stretching from Song Cau Town to Dong Hoa District, received a total investment of more than VND4.3 trillion (US$192 million) from a government bond. It is designed to withstand speeds of up to 80km per hour. To complete the project, more than 4,600 households in the province had to be resettled. Also today, the southern province of Binh Duong inaugurated the first phase of the My Phuoc-Tan Thanh Road and started construction work on the DT743. The two roads are considered the province's main thoroughfares and are expected to help promote the economy and reduce traffic jams in the area. The My Phuoc-Tan Van Road has a total length of nearly 30km, with 18 flyovers. The road can withstand speeds of 100km per hour and received a total investment of more than VND3.5 trillion ($155.5 million). When completed, the road will connect with Ho Chi Minh Road and the road systems of the main economic zone in the southern area. The road starts in the My Phuoc industrial and urban zone and passes through some major industrial zones in Bau Bang, Ben Cat, Thu Dau Mot, Thuan An and Di An districts. It ends at the Long Thanh International Airport and the Thi Vai Port. The DT743 Road has a total length of 12.3km, built with an investment of VND1.3 trillion ($59 million). The road connects the city centre with major industrial zones, including connections between Viet Nam and Singapore, Song Than and My Phuoc and HCM City and the neighbouring provinces.  Obstacles prevent necessary treatment of autistic children Misperception, lack of early detection and low awareness of parents are the main obstacles that hinder the social integration of autistic children in Viet Nam, experts said at a recent seminar on autism in Ha Noi. Speaking at the seminar, which was part of an event held on Sunday for 300 families with autistic children to interact and discover, health experts said that the biggest challenge in tackling autism was the limited understanding of autism spectrum disorders. Autism was often perceived as sickness and a ‘domestic problem' rather than a long-term developmental disability which needs support from the government, they said. The experts also said it was difficult to access services for early detection, early intervention and social inclusion due to lack of services, low awareness of people and discrimination. Many parents were unaware of the signs of autism to take early action; development screening has not been incorporated into routine care for young children. In addition, intervention services for children were insufficient and exceed the affordability of many families, they said. Dr Nguyen Thanh Mai, a pediatrics lecturer of Ha Noi Medical University, said in the courses for doctors, her university had recently added to the curriculum the content related to examination and diagnostics to detect early signs of autism. However, doctors in remote and disadvantaged areas did not often have opportunities to update knowledge on this issue, she added. One of the solutions given out during the event is the launch of a software which allows parents, caregivers and health workers to screen for early detection of developmental disorders and autism spectrum disorders. The software also provides information for early intervention at home, help researchers and software developers to better understand the current status of the child to make appropriate interventions. Experts also said the government should pay more attention to the children and families of children with autism as it has for deaf children to reduce pressure for families with children with autism. Dr Hoang Yen, senior lecturer at the Institute of Education Management under the Ministry of Education and Training said the programme could help parents access and detect early signs of autism in their children with five red flags which health organisations recommended. Yen said that parents or anyone who wanted to learn about the programme could find it online at a365.vn, adding that the programme was popular and good for parents. The event was jointly held by the Centre of Creative Initiatives in Health and Population, Viet Nam Autism Network and Ha Noi Club for Children with Autism. Although there is no official figure of children detected with autism in Viet Nam so far, the National Hospital of Pediatrics (NHP) reports increasing numbers of patients every year. Hau Giang Province gets first new-style rural district Nga Bay Town in the Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta province of Hau Giang has been recognised as a new-style rural district, the first in the region, Deputy PM Vu Van Ninh has announced. Nga Bay Town has three communes that meet 19 criteria of a new-style rural area, including Dai Thanh commune, which was recognised as new-style rural area in 2013, Tan Thanh Commune in 2014 and Hiep Loi Commune in June. The town has met all the national new rural area criteria, especially in agriculture. Pham Chi Dung, chairman of Nga Bay Town's People's Committee, said that farmers in the town had been trained in cutting-edge technologies in agriculture to help reduce crop and animal disease and increase output. The training has helped reduce manual work, increase productivity, cut costs and reduce pollution. Eighteen households in Dai Thanh Commune now have an income of more than VND1 billion (US$44,708) per year; 110 households from VND500 million ($22,326) to VND1 billion, and 450 households from VND100 million ($4,464) to under VND500 million. Income per capita per year increased from VND10.83 million ($480) in 2010 to VND30.7 million ($1,360) in 2015. Material and spiritual life of people has been improved. Roads and bridges in the town have also been upgraded, according to the town's people's committee. The number of poor households accounts for only 3.57 per cent of the total households in the town. Five out of 21 hamlets no longer have poor households. In addition, the town has created jobs for 26,416 people. A general hospital has been built with a capacity of 260 beds and there are six medical stations. More than 300 officials in the town have a bachelor's or master's degree. After 10 years of establishment, Nga Bay Town has achieved an annual growth of 15.84 per cent. Covering an area of nearly 80 square kilometres, the town has a population of 71,000. Hau Giang Province targets having more than 50 per cent of communes achieved new-style rural area status by 2020. Deputy PM Vu Van Ninh urged the province to continue to restructure its agriculture, by applying advanced technologies and enhancing cooperation in food production, processing and consumption. Ninh also urged the province to improve linkages among localities in the province, among farmers, between farmers and scientists, and between enterprises and local authorities. The Mekong Delta has 136 communes that meet the criteria of new-style rural areas, accounting for 10.54 per cent of the total communes in the region. The country has more than 1,000 communes that meet the criteria for these areas, representing more than 11 per cent of total communes in the country.  Tien Giang Province faces surge in dengue cases The dengue fever epidemic is spreading and become more complicated in the Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta province of Tien Giang, the provincial preventive healthcare department said. The number of dengue cases has increased dramatically, with new cases being reported in Cam Son Commune in Cai Lay District. The dengue outbreak has reached its peak, health workers said. The province has reported 1,034 dengue fever cases so far this year, a 114.2 per cent increase against the same period last year, they said. At present, the infections are concentrated in the districts of Go Cong Dong and Cai Lay, and My Tho City and Cai Lay Township. The provincial preventive healthcare department said there was a high risk of the fever spreading throughout the province in the coming weeks. To control its transmission, the local healthcare sector has carried out several measures such as spraying of insecticides in every corner of the province to eradicate mosquitoes. As of October 1, HCM City had 10,624 dengue cases, the highest number in the country. It was followed by Dong Nai Province with nearly 5,300 dengue cases, and Binh Duong Province and Ha Noi with more than 3,000 dengue cases each. Nutrition week to improve national nutrition status Health workers introduce mothers how to eat a healthy, balanced diet and ensure food hygiene and safety in the nothern Cao Bang Province. — Photo soytecaobang.gov.vn Nutrition and Development Week, to be launched by the National Institute of Nutrition nation-wide on Friday, aims to strengthen public awareness of nutrition and reduce the malnutrition rate. The annual event will focus on creating social welfare policies and ensuring sustainable agriculture development, aiming to reduce poverty and improve nutrition across the country. During the week, a communication campaign will focus on raising community awareness on how to eat a healthy, balanced diet and ensure food hygiene and safety. It will also promote a healthy lifestyle through regular physical exercise for obesity prevention. The health ministry will collaborate with the agricultural sector to provide guidelines on proper cultivation techniques for farmers and to develop VAC (garden-pond-livestock pen) integrated farming systems---a Vietnamese approach to household production of clean nutritious food. Social welfare activities will take place nation-wide, focusing on hunger and poverty reduction and improvements in medical service quality, especially for nutritional care services for mothers and children. Deputy Director of the National Institute of Nutrition under the Ministry of Health Le Bach Mai said supplements of micro nutrients such as iodine, vitamin A and iron added to daily meals are a basic measure to prevent malnutrition. Mai added that the health ministry intends to propose that the Government should issue a decree obligating food producers to add micro nutrients, including iodine, vitamin A, iron and zinc, to foods such as fish sauce, salt, cooking oil and wheat flour. This would help reduce the malnutrition rate in the country's children and improve the people's health across the country. A recent NIN survey showed that an unbalanced diet is among the top causes of malnutrition in the country. In 2014, the number of underweight children was some 24.9 per cent of the country's total children, while the rate of stunted growth was 14.5 per cent amongst children.  Hai Phong launches new bus route The northern Hai Phong City's traffic department and Hai Au bus company have launched a bus route to meet the people's travel requirements and ease traffic congestion during rush hour. About five buses, with a capacity of carrying 40 people each, will take turns to run every 15 minutes from 5am to 8.30pm every day from May To crossroad to So Dau T-junction via Thuong Ly bus station, and vice versa. Several schools and markets are located on these streets, and traffic jams occur regularly. Travel on the buses is free from October 8, 2015, to January 8 next year. From January 9, 2016, the fare will be VND10,000 (US$0.5). "With the motto of being ‘civilised, convenient, safe and saving', the inner city bus route has been put into operation to serve the travel requirements of residents in a quick and convenient way," Pham Quang Van, executive director of Hai Au bus company, said. Some large Vietnamese cities such as Ha Noi, Da Nang and Ho Chi Minh City have set up well-developed bus transportation systems. Learning from the examples set by other cities and with support from local authorities, Hai Au bus is the first unit to operate this bus route in Hai Phong City. "Despite some difficulties, our company will step up efforts to collaborate with local authorities to create a new culture for Hai Phong residents when they travel around the city," Van said.  Large fire breaks out at wooden warehouse A large blaze broke out early this morning at a wooden warehouse in Nam Dong Ha Industrial Zone in the central Quang Tri Province. The warehouse contained sawdust and woodchips of the ENE Power One Member Limited Company. The fire was first discovered at 4am by a guard of the warehouse corner, under which electric cables were installed. The sawdust and woodchips helped the fire to spread quickly in the warehouse. The firefighters took six hours to extinguish the fire. Hoang Minh Hien, the company director, said the warehouse contained 1,000 tonnes of sawdust and woodchips. Initial estimates said the fire caused VND1 billion (US$48,000) worth of damage, Hien said. The police are investigating the cause of the blaze.  Central city cardiology centre to open in 2017 The central city started the construction of a VND236 billion (US$11.23 million) cardiology centre yesterday. The 10-storey centre, located at Da Nang Hospital, covers an area of 3,560sq.m on Hai Phong Street, and has 200 beds. The hospital is scheduled to open in 2017. It will be the city's first cardiology hospital, and will provide cardiovascular examination, treatment and surgeries for patients in the city and the central and Central Highland provinces. Most cardiovascular patients in the central region are currently sent to Hue General Hospital – the only premium cardiology centre in the region – for treatment or surgery. A survey of 1,000 people in Da Nang showed that about 450 of them had high blood pressure during health checkups at local health centres. The central also launched the ‘Know Your Number' campaign, which aims to address the high rates of undiagnosed hypertension in adults over the age of 40. Private investment to boost railway sector   Vietnam's railway sector can expect a major improvement when large private investment begins pouring into projects.  Vietnam National Railway Corporation (VRC) and Indo Trans Logistics (ITL) last month signed a contract on the construction of a railway logistic centre and storage areas for domestic containers and export-import containers at Yen Vien railway station in Hanoi. Though this was only a small project, estimated at VND90 billion for 2015-2018, the Deputy Minister of Transport, Nguyen Ngoc Dong, said that it was a major turning point in the local raiway sector for mobilizing private capital investment. ITL gets control of the Nam Yen Vien storage facility for 23 years, and the project is expected to help develop port logistics activities at many seaports and rivers in the north, including Hai Phong, Quang Ninh and Hai Duong. The chairman of VRC, Tran Ngoc Thanh, said that besides the Yen Vien Project, VRC is also calling for private investment for 17 other railway projects, including franchising the Lao Cai-Hanoi-Hai Phong route, upgrading and building new storage facilities for six stations -- Song Than, Bim Son, Giap Bat, Yen Vien, Lao Cai, and Dong Dang -- and building a new Hanoi-HCM City railway. Franchising is under the Transport Ministry and aims to improving services at railway stations, using a model that has yielded positive results at local airports and seaports. Vingroup has proposed buying Hanoi, HCM City and Danang railway stations, and investing in new railway stations in those cities to ease overcrowding. Danang station has attracted interest from Vingroup, Nam Viet A Joint Stock Company, Duc Binh- Thanh Long- Cienco 1, T&T Group. "We are now open to private investors," Thanh said. "We will even welcome those who want to invest in a whole new train and we'll provide supporting infrastructure and other services." Several companies in VRC wants to link up with private enterprises to improve their services. Saigon Railway Passenger Transport Company has opened a luxury express train route linking Hanoi and Thanh Hoa. Hanoi Railway Passenger Transport Company launched a customer service hotline to provide better care for passengers and sell tour packages. Truong Van Phuoc, vice chairman of the National Financial Supervisory Commission, said franchising was a good way to develop infrastructure for the transport sector when the state budget is limited, but warned, "We should be careful to ensure fair competition among different transport companies and prevent a monopoly in service prices." A poor community of pottery vendors in Hanoi The image of pottery vendors riding a bicycle or motorbike has become familiar in Hanoi. But few people know about a difficult life which these people are leading. They live in poor conditions along the Red River in Tay Ho District, where they have formed a community of pottery vendors for the past 25 years. The community has hundreds of people who are mostly from Duc Bac Village, Lap Thach District in neighboring Vinh Phuc Province. They live on board boats, so they have no access to clean water. However, they have electricity from makeshift generators. To raise funds for their business operations, they used their land as collateral for bank loans. HCM City opens bridge on major road The HCMC Department of Transport opened to traffic Go Dua Bridge on the Pham Van Dong Street section in Thu Duc District over the weekend. The bridge is one of the components of the major road stretching more than 12 kilometers from Linh Xuan Intersection in HCMC’s outlying district of Thu Duc and Nguyen Thai Son Intersection in Go Vap District and near Tan Son Nhat International Airport in Tan Binh District.  The bridge spanning Go Dua Canal allows vehicles to move on separate lanes of Pham Van Dong Streets. The department reported the remaining sections of the street including those from Truong Son Intersection to Bach Dang Street and from Hong Ha Street to Nguyen Thai Son Intersection will be completed in October this year. Road sections with slow site clearance on Hong Ha Street and Bach Dang Street are scheduled to get off the ground from early November this year and be completed in June next year. Nurses and caregivers sought after in Japan The Department for Overseas Labor Management has announced that an additional 210 Vietnamese nurses and caretakers will be recruited for guest work in Japan this year in line with the Vietnam-Japan economic partnership agreement (EPA). The department under the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs told a seminar held in Hanoi last week to introduce the recruitment program that candidates must be graduates of the nursing faculty at college. Interested people should submit their applications directly to the department and no labor export firm is authorized to carry out the program. Selected candidates will be provided with a free 12-month course on Japanese as well as free accommodation and food, and per diems during the training period. At the end of the course, qualified candidates will be granted a N3 Japanese language proficiency certificate and introduced to Japanese hospitals and healthcare centers. According to the department, Vietnamese nurses can get a monthly wage of 130,000-140,000 Japanese yen (VND24-26 million) while the average monthly pay for caregivers is 140,000-150,000 yen (VND26-27.7 million) in Japan. In case they can get career training certificates and offered official positions, their wage would rise to 270,000-300,000 yen (VND49.8-55.4 million) a month. Since 2012, the department has joined hands with the Japanese side in recruiting and organizing three courses on the Japanese language for 510 nurses and caretakers. Of them, 290 graduates of the first two courses are working at hospitals and healthcare centers in Japan and the candidates of the third course are expected to complete Japanese language exams in December. VNA/VNS/VOV/SGT/SGGP/TT/TN/Dantri