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Cho Ray Hospital said a 37-year-old patient hailing from the Mekong Delta Province of Vinh Long was officially discharged from the hospital today after more than 11 years of hospitalization and underwent 26 surgeries to treat Hemophilia A, an inherited bleeding disorder in which the blood does not clot properly. The male patient was diagnosed with polio when he was a little boy, after which she spent 11 years of hospitalization, undergoing 26 surgeries in the process. Head of the Cho Ray Hospital’s General Planning Department Dr. Phan Thanh Viet said that the male patient’s health condition got worse at the age of 26 when he was taken to the hospital for treatment. His cost of drug therapy for hemophilia treatment has been more than VND40 billion. Patient Phan Huu Ng. shared that he was happy when hearing the good news. He stayed in the hospital’s hematology department in more than seven years and then he was transferred to the Department of Burn and Plastic Surgery. He said that he has sometimes surrendered his hope, but he continued his fight thanks to his mother’s and medical workers’ encouraging words. Dr. Viet said that of his VND40.8 billion medical cost, the insurance agency has paid VND38.3 billion while the remaining sum was covered by the family and benefactors. By Thanh An - Translated by Anh Quan …

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Female sapper Dieu Linh has just attended a virtual ministerial meeting entitled “Maintenance of international peace and security: Mine action and sustaining peace: Stronger partnerships for better delivery,” held by the UN Security Council. She was one of the three keynote speakers at the discussion session of the meeting. Dieu Linh was born and grew up in Quang Tri, Vietnam’s central province, which suffered thousands of tons of bombs dropped by the U.S. Air Force during the war. She said fate has brought her to the work of clearing UXO. “At first, I worked as an interpreter for a Norway-sponsored mine action project. I learnt a lot about the huge consequences of war legacy in my home land. Although decades have passed since the end of the war, UXO is often found in paddy fields, up on hills and in residential areas. I recall when I was small, my friends and I picked up a number of metal pieces and played with them. With our little knowledge, we did not know the metal pieces were grenades or artillery shells. I now feel lucky as these deadly things did not boom. But not all people are as lucky as we were. Since the end of the war [1975], nearly 3,500 were killed and more than 5,000 others were wounded by UXO in Quang Tri,” Dieu Linh spoke to reporters on the sidelines of the meeting. With her strong desire to contribute to her homeland, Dieu Linh studied to become a field officer and then a field manager in 2015. Now she is the Chief of the Quang Tri Female Sapper Squad, leading 300 sappers and workers. Every day, she leads the sapper squad to detect and move UXO to safe sites for neutralization. She and members of the squad are trying their best to bring peace and safety to local people and turn UXO-polluted land – the so called “land of death” into farmland for them. Regarding her female sapper squad, Dieu Linh said, “In the past, people used to think that bomb and mine clearance was men’s job, and that women should only serve in support forces like …

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At the event (Photo: VNA) Hanoi (VNA) – The report on Provincial Competitiveness Index (PCI) in 2020 acknowledged efforts in administrative reform of all 63 provinces and centrally-run cities, but the business circle still wants local administrations at all levels to further improve their transparency and accountability. Participants at the event to announce the PCI 2020 on April 15 pointed to areas that need more reform attention such as land, taxation and social insurance. Dau Anh Tuan, head of the legal department at the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) said amidst the bright spots in the picture of reform in 2020, there remained worrying statistics. For example, one in every four interviewed enterprises said local administrations favour State-owned enterprises and cause difficulties to private ones. Nearly one in every three enterprises thought local administrations gave preferential treatment to foreign-invested enterprises. Meanwhile, nearly 45 percent said they still had to pay informal expenses, and 20 percent said State civil servants are unfriendly and ineffective. Meanwhile, the impact of COVID-19 has caused enterprises’ confidence to drop strongly. Only 41 percent of enterprises including private and FDI ones plan to expand their business in the next two years, down more than 10 percentage points compared to 2019. PCI scores in 2020 also showed a slight reduction from 2019 and the leading localities in the PCI rankings made less breakthrough changes, which showed the reform momentum seemed to slow down. Tuan stressed that the 2020 PCI report paid special attention to analyzing the impact of the pandemic on the business circle. He noted that enterprises appreciated the timely response and support policies made by the Government and local authorities in the situation. Regarding difficulties faced by enterprises, he said the least improvement was made in transparency, with 57.4 percent of enterprises said they …

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