Security service fcu

Despite the fact that many of the attempts were thwarted at an early stage, terrorism remains a serious threat with terrorists using more diverse tactics, Putin said at a meeting of the Federal Security Service (FSB) Board.

It is necessary to better protect places of mass gathering, critical facilities and social institutions, and more effectively coordinate the work of the FSB and other security agencies, he said.

Putin ordered law enforcers to pay special attention to detecting the contacts between terrorist groups and foreign special services.

He praised the work of counterintelligence bodies, which have thwarted the activities of 72 employees and 423 agents of foreign special services last year.

The president also emphasized the importance of protecting military information and decreasing the chances of its leakage.

The Government Office on October 7 sent a document to Minister of Public Security, conveying the Prime Minister’s instructions on the form of citizen chip-mounted identity cards to be used in Vietnam.

The Ministry of Public Security will issue 50 million identity cards prior to July 1, 2021.

The Prime Minister stressed that the technology to be utilized for new identity cards must be advanced technology which allows electronic transactions and saves costs for everyone. This also helps speed up the national digital transformation process, striving for a digital government, economy and

Ministries, branches and provincial/municipal people’s committees have been asked to to cooperate with the Ministry of Public Security in deploying chip-mounted identity cards, using information on the cards and building platforms to be integrated into cards before granting cards to citizens.

The project on producing, granting and managing citizen identity cards, capitalized at VND2.696 trillion, was approved by the Prime Minister on September 3, 2020.

The plan aims to improve state management efficiency, create favorable conditions for citizens when following administration procedures and conducting civil transactions, and serve the fight against criminals.

Under the project, to be implemented in 2020-2022, a unified citizen identity system will be built and put under control by the Ministry of Public Security, which comprises hardware (biometric identification system, server, workstations, peripherals, storage devices, security devices), software (commercial software, applied software), training service and infrastructure setting.

The representative of the Ministry of Public Security at an online conference held on September 9 discussing the card and reviewing the 6-month implementation of the project on national population database said that the ministry would report to the government it would activate the two systems and put them into trial operation by February 2021 before official operation in July 2021.

The salient point of the identity card project is the change in the collecting of fingerprints. It is expected that on November 1, 2020, the Ministry of Public Security will begin collecting fingerprints nationwide.

It integrates many associated apps, including digital signature, biometric apps and one-time password apps, which can be used for public services. People will not have to bring many documents with them when conducting transactions.

Vu Ha

A customer at a branch of Military Bank (MBB). Shares of MBB rose 1.1 per cent on Thursday. Photo courtesy of MBB

HÀ NỘI — Shares bounced back on Thursday on the back of large-caps, banking and energy stocks.

The benchmark VN-Index on the Hồ Chí Minh Stock Exchange gained 0.29 per cent to close at 1,165.43 points.

It had lost 1.33 per cent to close Wednesday at 1,162.01 points.

More than 510.4 million shares were traded on the southern bourse, worth VNĐ13.5 trillion (US$589 million).

Market breadth was neutral with 220 gainers and 214 losers.

“The VN-Index is still in a consolidating span at the 1,160-1,200-point range,” said BIDV Securities Co.

“Liquidity declined compared to the previous session, market band was narrowed and market breadth was positive, showing that investor sentiment is stabilising.

“Foreigners continued to be net sellers on the HoSE while they were net buyers on the HNX.

“BSC recommends mid and long-term investors to open positions in some good fundamental stocks in this short-term consolidating span,” it said.

Foreign investors net sold VNĐ460.80 billion on HOSE, including dairy firm Vinamilk (VNM) (VNĐ233.40 billion), Vietnam National Petroleum Group (PLX) (VNĐ47.4 billion), and real estate company Khang Điền House (KDH) (VNĐ36.2 billion). They were net buyers on the HNX with the value of VNĐ10.44 billion.

The oil and gas sector index gained 2.4 per cent, becoming one of the best-performing sectors in Việt Nam on Thursday, data on vietstock.vn showed.

Vietnamese oil and gas stocks grew well, including PetroVietnam Gas JSC (GAS), Viet Nam National Petroleum Group (PLX), PetroVietnam Drilling & Well Services Corporation (PVD), PetroVietnam Power Corp (POW), and PetroVietnam Technical Services (PVS).

Besides the petroleum industry, financial stocks also performed well with the banking and industry indices rising 0.3 per cent and 0.3 per cent, with gainers including Vietcombank (VCB), Military Bank (MBB), HDBank (HDB), Bảo Việt Securities Co (BVS), MB Securities Co (MBS), Ho Chi Minh City Securities Corporation (HCM), Saigon-Hanoi Securities Co (SHS) and VNDirect Securities Co (VND).

The large-cap tracker VN30-Index gained 0.23 per cent to stay at 1,169.82 points.

Fourteen of the 30 large-cap stocks in the VN30 basket increased while thirteen lost ground.

On the Hà Nội Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index rallied 3.49 per cent to end Thursday at 246.20 points.

The northern market index had dropped 0.38 per cent to end Wednesday at 237.89 points.

More than 115.4 million shares were traded on the northern market, worth VNĐ1.9 trillion. — VNS

An increasing number of hospitals in Vietnam are adding robotic surgery to their medical arsenal, hoping the extra set of mechanical hands will help give their patients some much needed relief.

Robotic surgery, computer-assisted surgery, and robot-assisted surgery are terms for technological developments that use robotic systems to aid in surgical procedures.

In 2014, the Vietnam National Children’s Hospital in Hanoi was the first to deploy the U.S.-made DaVinci surgery system for children’s endoscopic operations.

Between 2016 and 2017, more modern versions of the DaVinci robot began appearing at Binh Dan Hospital and Cho Ray Hospital, both located in Ho Chi Minh City, as well as at Bach Mai Hospital in Hanoi.

Dr. Pham Gia Hien, head of the pediatric neurosurgery center of Vietnam National Children’s Hospital, stressed that this type of technology, despite its astronomical cost, is the future of surgery.

A wonder tool for surgeons

In February 2019, the People’s Hospital 115 in Ho Chi Minh City amazed medical experts with a successful brain operation using a system known as Modus V Synaptive II from Canada.

This state-of-the-art surgery tool cost US$2.3 million, and marked its host hospital as the pioneer in applying robotic assistance in neurosurgery.

The equipment will aid the hospital’s staff with its 2,350 yearly neurological operations.

On February 15, surgeons at the People’s Hospital 115 spent a mere 1.5 hours performing a successful brain tumor operation on a female patient from Tay Ninh, a province neighboring Ho Chi Minh City.

Such an achievement came with the expertise from Dr. Chu Tan Si – head of the nerve surgery department – who undertook training in the U.S. in 2017 and in Switzerland in 2018, and the assistance of Professor Amin Kassam – vice-president of neurosciences at Aurora Health Care, a U.S.-based non-profit health care network.

“Thanks to the robotic system, operations can take place in a much shorter amount of time compared to microsurgery – that is, using a microscope without any robotic navigation,” Dr. Si said.

“Instead of looking at your hands, you look at a large screen while manipulating the robotic system.”

A group of doctors perform a surgery using computer-assisted technology. Photo: Tuoi Tre

According to its website, Modus V Synaptive II provides a larger field of view, a higher depth of field and more natural color reproduction.

This makes for a clear view of critical anatomical structures throughout the operation.

Dr. Si noted the benefits that such robotic surgery offers to both surgeons and patients.

“It adds confidence to the doctor with its AI [artificial intelligence] technology that can tell the difference between sensory neurotransmitters and can even advise the best approach route to avoid damage.”

Less pain, quicker recovery, lower cost

To the patients, computer-assisted surgery means fast-track recovery and reduced pain.

An elderly patient at Binh Dan Hospital could move around and eat normally only two days after her liver removal operation in August 2017.

“The surgeons and their robotic arms made this surgery such an easy pill to swallow. Now I can be up and running again,” the patient said.

As proof of the minimal pain robotically-assisted surgery can offer, doctors at Cho Ray Hospital have performed two successful live kidney transplants using robotic assistance.

T.V.T., a 59-year-old patient from the coastal city of Vung Tau, managed to walk about by himself and eat light rice porridge only days after his esophageal surgery here.

Dr. Do Ba Hung, deputy director of Binh Dan Hospital, said that robotic surgery allows a 3D field of view with high-definition resolution and a 12x magnification effect.

Binh Dan Hospital now offers robotic surgery service for urinary excretion operations and general surgery, with prices ranging around VND117-131 million ($5,000-5,600).

This amount is much lower than that for the same service in Singapore (around $26,000) and in the U.S. (around $41,000).

Also, the medical insurance policy has recently approved its coverage of certain robotic surgery types such as spinal and joint replacement operations.

According to Nguyen Ta Tinh, head of the policy faculty from Vietnam Social Security, children, the elderly and people who have made contributions to the country are entitled to 40 percent of the total cost, and regular patients 30 percent.

Surgeons operate the robotic arms while watching an HD screen. Photo: Tuoi Tre

A cause for concern

The robotic systems are an expensive investment, priced from $2.3 million to $3.5 million, according to data gathered by TuoiTre (Youth) newspaper.

Surveys have revealed that there are around 3,000 robotic surgery systems in the U.S., 100 in South Korea and around ten in Vietnam.

Besides those available in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi, the Maternity and Pediatrics Hospital in the northern province of Quang Ninh performed for the first time a hysterectomy surgery on a 49-year-old patient from Van Don District in November 2018.

Its director, Nguyen Quoc Hung, said that he felt a need for a more powerful device after this test run.

Robotic surgery systems, according to medical experts, is a cautious investment as the cost can be up to $4.3 million apiece.

Hospitals are advised to think twice regarding the functionality of the tool and their target patients.

According to Dr. Hien from Vietnam National Children’s Hospital, the cost of robotic surgery, for the patient, is 20 times as high as that of regular endoscopic operations.

He cautions against a technology race, quoting what happened in the Philippines, where hospitals paid through the nose for devices that fall into disuse because of understaffing.

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