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A company in the southern province of Binh Duong advertises job openings. Photo laodong.vn

Companies in the city’s industrial parks and export processing zones need around 12,000 workers, including 2,540 with a university degree, according to the HCM City Export Processing and Industrial Zones Authority (HEPZA).

Another 4,700 jobs are available for applicants with college and vocational education, and the rest are for manual workers, Hung Hua Quoc Hung, head of HEPZA, said.

The textile and footwear sectors have the largest demand, he added.

The HCM City Centre for Forecasting Manpower Needs and Labour Market Information said the city overall is expected to need 30,000 workers after the Tet holiday.

Do Thanh Van, deputy director of the centre, said trade, services, textile and footwear, food processing, logistics, IT, plastics, and chemicals are among the industries with the highest recruitment demand.

PouYuen Việt Nam Co. Ltd in Tan Binh District, one of the companies with the largest demand, needs more than 2,000 workers for various positions such as IT technicians, office and purchase staff, secretaries, quality management staff, and manual workers.

Le Minh Tan, director of the city Department of Labour, Invalid and Social Affairs, said all businesses have resumed operations after Tet with around 96 per cent of workers returning to work.

In Binh Duong Province, a manufacturing hub, more than 95 per cent of workers have returned, according to its Federation of Labour.

The federation also said 916 enterprises require 95,983 workers after Tet.

Dong Nai Province, another manufacturing hub, too needs thousands of workers to meet the expected increase in production this year.

Cao Duy Thai, head of the wage office at the province Department of Labour, Invalid, and Social Affairs, said the worker turnover rate during Tet this year is unusually low since more and more enterprises are offering benefits to retain workers, making it a tough to hire new staff.

Positive hiring outlook

According to ManpowerGroup Vietnam’s 2021 Employment Outlook survey, employers in various industries are expecting hiring to recover and grow in the first half of 2021 despite the continuing pandemic.

The survey polled 442 human resources and talent acquisition executives in 16 industries.

While 36.4 per cent said their businesses were slightly impacted by the pandemic, nearly 50 per cent said they still operate normally.

Some 56 per cent anticipated a payroll expansion while 37 per cent said they would maintain the headcount.

Only 6.6 per cent plan to lay off workers.

Two-thirds expect hiring to increase within the next three months, and 22 per cent foresee an expansion in the next six months.

The biggest recruitment plans in the period are in manufacturing, construction, wholesale, retail and trading, and transport and logistics.

The construction sector saw a revival thanks to economic growth, and accounts for a fifth of all companies planning to hire, the same as manufacturing.

Nguyen Thu Trang, country head of permanent recruitment, executive search and consulting services at ManpowerGroup Vietnam, said: “Thanks to the effective control measurements and the strong anti-epidemic compliance of the Vietnamese, the economy is showing signs of positive recovery. In addition, foreign investment continues to flow into Vietnam, creating more business and job opportunities.  VNS

Dozens of children in Vietnam have been born to infertile parents under a program that pays for the costs of the expensive in vitro fertilization (IVF) treatment for low-income couples who struggle to conceive naturally.

The annual program, known as ‘Uom mam hanh phuc’ (Sowing Happiness), was launched in 2014 by Prof. Dr. Nguyen Thi Ngoc Phuong, who spearheaded the introduction of IVF treatment in Vietnam in the late 1990s.

Each year, organizers select from hundreds of applications and provide financial as well as medical support to some dozen couples who need help the most.

Selected couples are sponsored for all steps of a standard IVF treatment, which is a process of fertilizing an egg with sperm outside of the body.

This treatment involves monitoring and stimulating a woman’s ovulatory process, removing ova from the woman’s ovaries, letting sperm fertilize them in a laboratory, and implanting the resultant embryo in the female’s uterus.

A couple plays with their child born through in vitro fertilization sponsored by a program that supports infertile couples in Vietnam. Photo: Huu Thuan / Tuoi Tre

According to Dr. Dang Quang Vinh, deputy director of My Duc General Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City that provides the treatment, selected couples will have all their medical costs covered, including those of storing unused embryos, which can be accessed for future IVF attempts.

Under this program, each couple can save up to VND80-100 million (US$3,500 – 4,300) per attempt.

As of the time of writing, 80 children have been born to parents who underwent IVF treatment sponsored by the program, while six mothers are expected to give birth through IVF treatment soon.

This year, on its fifth annual call for candidates, the program has received 621 applications from infertile couples from across the country and selected 167 satisfying all criteria laid out by the organizers.

“As our funds are limited, we have no choice but to give priority to couples who are in most dire need of financial support,” said Dr. Vinh said.

Dr. Dang Quang Vinh, vice-director of My Duc General Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City. Photo: Huu Thuan / Tuoi Tre

The program is funded by donations from My Duc General Hospital employees and philanthropists. In 2017, VND2.7 billion ($116,000) was raised from these donations to help 33 couples selected for the fourth edition of the program.

“It pains us every time we have to reject an application,” he said.

The birth of ‘Treasure’

Hoang Van Hung, 36, and his wife Huynh Kim Hue, 29, who live in a small house in District 12, Ho Chi Minh City, were one of the 86 couples who were blessed with a child after being chosen for the program.

The couples’ dream of having a child became more and more far-fetched as they still struggled to conceive years after getting married.

Hue managed to get pregnant after their first attempt at seeking medical intervention by manually inserting her husband’s semen into her uterus, but their unborn child was pronounced dead by doctors eight weeks into her pregnancy.

After spending some time getting over the shock of their first child’s death, Hung and Hue sought help from private clinics multiple times to no avail.

Huynh Kim Hue plays with her first child born through in vitro fertilization sponsored by a program that supports infertile couples in Vietnam. Photo: Duyen Phan / Tuoi Tre

Financially exhausted, the couple decided to apply for the third edition of the ‘Uom mam hanh phuc’ program and got selected to undergo free IVF treatment at My Duc General Hospital.

It was Dr. Vuong Thi Ngoc Lan, Dr. Phuong’s daughter, who implanted the lab-cultured embryo into Hue’s uterus.

The couple’s happiness doubled when the first ultrasound result came out, showing that Hue had conceived twin babies.

However, one of the babies was pronounced dead after only 11 weeks.

Following this incident, Hung told Hue to refrain from all labor activities and to spend her days watching comedies to stay in a good mood.

Hue gave birth to the remaining twin on October 15, 2016 after 37 weeks of pregnancy. The couple had asked doctors to perform a C-section three weeks earlier than the expected date for fear of another miscarriage.

“It was only after hearing our child’s first cries that we could breathe a sigh of relief,” Hung said.

“It was a special moment that we wouldn’t ever be able to forget.”

A medical worker tends to the first child of Hoang Van Hung and Huynh Kim Hue after the boy is delivered at My Duc General Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City on October 15, 2016 in this photo provided by the couple.

They named their first child Bao Lam, which translates as ‘treasure of the forest.”

Now pregnant with her second child through IVF treatment, Hue said she and her husband could finally put an end to their restless search for a child which they had thought was without any hope.

Renewed hope

According to a 2018 research conducted on 14,300 married couples in Vietnam, 7.7 percent of the couples who were in childbearing age suffered from infertility.

The research estimated that around one million couples nationwide were infertile, half of which were under the age of 30.

Although the figure is not high when compared to the average global infertility rate of 6-12 percent as per WHO statistics, Dr. Phuong said it is alarming due to the fact that unhealthy lifestyles contribute much to infertility in Vietnam.

Heavy smoking and drinking habits affect one’s ability to conceive naturally, she added.

Prof. Dr. Nguyen Thi Ngoc Phuong, former director of Tu Du Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City. Photo: Duyen Phan / Tuoi Tre

More than 20 years since the first child was born through IVF in Vietnam in 1998, tens of thousands of children have been born thanks to this medical technique, Dr. Phuong said.

“Although the cost of IVF treatment in Vietnam is the lowest in the world, it’s still a huge expenditure for low-income couples,” Dr. Phuong said.

“If [all infertile couples in Vietnam] get access to free IVF treatment, around 70 percent of them will be able to conceive,” she added.

Dr. Phuong expressed her hope that IVF treatment will soon become available in each of Vietnam’s 63 provinces and municipalities so patients can cut down on their traveling and accommodation expenses.

An infertile patient undergoes a medical checkup at My Duc General Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City. Photo: Duyen Phan / Tuoi Tre

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BHUBANESWAR — Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was inoculated with the first dose of a home-grown coronavirus vaccine on Monday, kicking off an expansion of the country’s immunisation campaign as infections rise in some big states.

People above 60, and those who are 45 or more and suffering from certain medical conditions, are now eligible for the vaccinations. But some inoculation centres reported issues with the government’s Co-Win portal used to coordinate the drive, which could slow its progress.

India, which has reported the highest number of COVID-19 cases after the United States, has so far vaccinated 12 million health and front-line workers since starting its immunisation programme in mid-January. It wants to cover 300 million of its 1.35 billion people by August.

“I appeal to all those who are eligible to take the vaccine,” 70-year-old Modi said on Twitter, posting a picture of him getting the shot at a government hospital in New Delhi. “Together, let us make India COVID-19 free!”

The government said last week it would let people choose their vaccination centres, effectively letting beneficiaries pick either the home-grown COVAXIN shot or the AstraZeneca vaccine, unlike earlier.

The inoculation campaign has run slower than expected due to a reluctance of health and front-line workers to take COVAXIN, which was approved without late-stage efficacy data. Only about 11% of vaccinated people have opted for the product developed by Bharat Biotech and the state-run Indian Council of Medical Research.

Bharat Biotech has said efficacy data from a late-stage trial on nearly 26,000 volunteers who took COVAXIN will be out soon. The company, along with India’s drug regulator, says COVAXIN is safe and effective, based on early and intermediate studies.

“Inspired and humbled by Hon’ble PM’s remarkable commitment to build an Aatmanirbhar Bharat,” Bharat Biotech said in reply to Modi’s tweet, referring to his self-reliance pitch to back local products.

“Yes, we all shall fight COVID-19 together and emerge victorious.”

Online, offline?

Initial glitches in the Co-Win portal had hampered vaccination, and some of the troubles resurfaced on Monday in states such as Odisha in the east and Maharashtra in the west, officials said.

Modi’s home state of Gujarat, however, said the roll-out was progressing fine.

“We haven’t faced any glitches,” said Jaiprakash Shivahare, Gujarat’s commissioner of health. “The government of India has assured us that there is no issue of vaccine availability and asked us to use the vaccines as early as possible.”

India has reported more than 11 million coronavirus infections and over 157,000 deaths. Of the 15,510 new cases recorded in the past 24 hours, Maharashtra state accounted for 8,293 followed by Kerala’s 3,254 infections.

The health ministry reported 106 deaths in the past 24 hours, with no fatalities recorded in 20 of India’s three dozen states and federal territories.