Tieng Viet lovers club

[jackbl]

Transgender people in Vietnam: P2 – First steps of the painful journey
================================================== =======================
Thailand is believed to be one of the best places for transgender people to go for gender reassignment surgery, but the cost is too great for most Vietnamese transsexuals. Many of them choose cheaper but more dangerous ways to get the body they desire.

Shockingly, many transgender people are taking matters into their own hands, indiscriminately injecting hormone supplements and silicon without first consulting doctors.

Daredevil methods to acheive “the real me”

Aki Tran, 22 is a trans man born with the name Nguyen Thi Truc Phuong. Since she cannot afford surgery, Phuong takes a pill intended for men with weak physiology and injects 250mg of the medicine into her body once a day. After two months, Phuong said she felt slightly more manly and had a deeper voice. Worried about the medicine’s side effects, Phuong had gone through a comprehensive health check before starting this dangerous practice.

However, many other transsexuals simply take the medicine without any prior health examination.

22-year-old trans woman Yuki, whose real name is Le Chau Thanh Tung, has used contraceptive pills everyday to maintain a girl-like figure.

“I inject hormone supplements once a week and take 4 pills per day. The cost of contraceptive medicines has risen from VND6,000/pack to more than VND100,000 (US$5)/ pack due to my income. Sometimes I even take 15 pills a day. The medicine hurts my body so badly; it exhausts me to the point where I can’t stand up after taking it,” Aki shared.

Tu, or Nguyen Van Hung, a friend of Aki, also abuses contraceptive medicine.

“My friends told me that the pills cause pain so I used to take only one pill per day, but now I take 5 pills a day to transform my body faster since no matter how much I use, 1 or 5, the medicine still hurts me,” Tu said.

Silicon – the “magic” substance

Besides taking medicine and hormone supplements, many transgender people also inject silicon into their body, attempting to create curves. They do so without medical consultation, which is very risky. Those who do so are not educated on the dangers of this practice: 22-year-old trans woman Cat Thy believes there is no risk “as long as it’s not injected into bones.”

At the age of 7, Thy realized she was different from her friends. She liked to wear girls’ clothes and play with girls’ toys. Because of this, she experienced painful discrimination from a young age.

Thy quit school when she was 15 and then worked as a transgender performer for a circus troupe in Dong Thap. Upon learning of Thy’s gender identity, a woman in the troupe told her she could implant her breasts and face with silicon to look more like a girl.

“At first she injected silicon into my cheeks. It was terribly painful and my face swelled like a pig but it got better after a couple days,” Thy recalled.

After this, the woman suggested that Thy implant her breasts with silicon, warning that it could be dangerous, as silicon can spill into the heart.

Her deep yearnings to become a girl made potential dangers subside, and Thy allowed the woman to inject silicon into her breasts.

“It hurt so much, I could only pray for the pain to ease,” Thy remembered. “After 4-5 injections, I started to have bigger breasts, and I was extremely happy and forgot about the agonizing pain.”

Since then, Thy became addicted to silicon injection, and injects it into all parts of her body, even her fingers and elbows in an attempt to appear more womanly. She and her friends buy silicon, and inject each other with the harmful substance.

Asked about the dangers of silicon injection, Thy just smiled sadly, saying she’d rather die than be ugly.

“I had to put a lot of silicon into my body to be like this. My body now consists of medicine and silicon. It will take years for it to decompose after I die,” Thy joked, showing her plump, womanly hands.

“I know that cancer is a great danger. I feel than I’m weaker and weaker over the years. My body always hurts when the weather turns cold,” Thy said.

The cost of genital removal, which is around VND75 million – VND100 million (US$3,538 - US$4,717), is far too expensive for Thy.

“Sometimes I just wish I could die but it’s not that easy. I’m now like a mental patient and can’t even cry. I often go to pagodas and pray. I just thought that I was born this way and needed a better life,” she added sadly.

[jackbl]

Transgender people in Vietnam – P3: No pain, no gain
================================================== ==================

Some work hard to earn money to undergo gender reassignment surgery in foreign countries; some choose to cut off their genitalia; some even agree to exchange years of their lives for the chance to live as their desired gender.

Although the gender reassignment surgery process requires preoperative psychological counseling and health examinations, such services are not available in Vietnam, where transsexual surgery is not legal. Thus, local transgender people have created their own community in which they share their experiences to gain knowledge and understanding of the process.

A thousand times more painful than death

According to Lo Lo, 34, a trans woman, a general transsexual process consists of taking hormones and living as the desired gender over the course of 2 years, then undergoing a psychological test before surgery. However, not many transgender Vietnamese follow those steps. Many friends of Lo Lo call to make a reservation for surgery in Thailand, then take a short trip there for surgery, returning to Vietnam soon after.

This simple process leads to a number of regretful consequences.

Bao Chau, a trans woman in Ho Chi Minh City, has a typical story of the agonizing journey to find herself. After returning to Vietnam from Thailand after surgery, she was too ashamed to go to a hospital to get the proper post-surgery care.

“I hired a nurse to take care of me and my new vagina at home. Sometimes the wound would become infected and bleed, and I was forced to be hospitalized, my life hanging by a thread,” Chau recalled. “I hoped my new vagina would be fine so that my all pain wouldn’t be in vain.”

“It was a thousand times more painful than death,” she emotionally remembered.

Lo Lo said she often warns her transsexual friends to stop indiscriminately taking pills and injecting hormones and to wait for approved medical services.

“At present, Vietnam doesn’t have any consulting service for transsexuals. People who have undergone surgery share their experiences for those who haven’t. I have no idea when Vietnam will have a proper consulting service.”

Lo herself is taking contraceptives and injecting herself with hormones every three months to preserve her female body.

“Since the day I started taking pills, my skin grew darker and covered with acne. I also cry and get annoyed easily. Some of my friends have fainted after injecting hormones, while others are too skinny because they diet to look like girls,” Lo shared.

Part-by-part conversion

Those who cannot afford the transsexual surgery fee in other countries are often forced to make the transition slowly.

“My friends usually transform part by part. Trans men often want to remove their ovaries to avoid periods. A friend of mine underwent an ovary removal surgery which cost VND10 million (US$472). If we give them enough money, some doctors will agree to diagnose us with breast cancer so that we can be granted a mastectomy surgery,” said Aki Tran, a trans man.

Tuoi Tre correspondents followed Aki Tran, a trans man, and her friend to a cosmetic clinic on Duong Ba Trac Street in District 8. The clinic’s director informed them that he only offers mastectomy surgery and doesn’t give gender reassignment surgery. After checking their breasts, the doctor declared the price for breast removal would be VND30 million for Aki and VND35 million for her friend, and said they could come for surgery the next day.

The two visited other doctors that day, but the price was always higher than they could afford.

Die young – not a big deal

Jessica, also known as Ca, is famous among transgender people in HCMC due to her successful gender transformation.

Since a very young age, Ca has suffered discrimination from her family and friends. Her family didn’t allow her to meet their friends because they felt ashamed of their “son.” They took her to many hospitals and even invited a shaman into their home, hoping to cure Jessica’s “illness.”

“A doctor even scolded my mother and told her that I was not sick,” Ca shared.

At the age of 19, Ca dropped out of college and moved out of her home since she couldn’t bare the discrimination. “I was discriminated against, jobless, and had to perform at funerals, a job that only pede (discriminating term used to describe transgender people) do. In the eyes of others, the reputation of transgender people like me has only grown worse,” Ca said in tears.

After the tough time, Ca learned makeup and hairdressing to earn money for the biggest dream of her life: traveling to Thailand for gender reassignment surgery. Though Ca had already injected silicon into her breasts to reduce surgery expenses, she still had to borrow money for the trip.

In Thailand, with the advice of some friends, Ca visited a doctor named Thep.

“I was scared at first, but the desire to become a girl encouraged me. I believed that dying young was not a big deal, because we’re transsexuals, and we’re daredevils,” Ca recalled.

“I would rather die ten years earlier than live for ten more years with the pain of not being myself,” Ca responded after hearing the rumor that people who cut off their genitals will lose 10 years of their lives.

Ca’s life now is the dream of many transgender people. She’s living as a girl and has a stable job as a makeup artist. Ca said she must make money to pay the debts she owes for her surgery, but is lucky to have a job; many other transsexuals have to prostitute themselves to pay “the debt from their previous life.”

[jackbl]

Transgender people in Vietnam: P4 – The beauty queen
================================================== =====================
We met Mai Ngoc over dinner at a cheap restaurant before she rushed to work at a night club in Ho Chi Minh City. In 2010, Ngoc was crowned Miss Angel in a transgender beauty pageant held yearly in the city for the transgender community.

Since then, show business has occasionally opened doors for her. She has been offered small transgender roles in films, appeared in music videos or modeled for modest entertainment events. But her main income comes from working as a bar hostess, a job that helps support herself and her family.

“People assume my beauty pageant title would give me a comfortable life, but no. I work really hard every day to earn a living,” she said.

Lonely childhood

Born as Phan Huu Loc into a big family in Binh Dong, District 8 in Ho Chi Minh City, Ngoc said she did not know who her father was until recently. Like many city children, she grew up on the street as her mother worked tirelessly every day to feed her family.

At 10, Ngoc started working to share the financial burden with her mother. But there seemed to be no one that could understand her personal burdens. Selling lottery tickets on streets after school, she grew up with mounting doubts about her life and confusion over her identity. Isolated at school for her differences, she couldn’t confide in anyone that her biggest dream was to become a real woman.

In hard times, Ngoc thought of seeking her father, “but I gave up, believing it would be hard for him to accept me as I am, even after I found out who he was,” she said.

By the time she turned 19, Ngoc already looked like a girl: she dressed in girls’ clothes, injected hormones into her body, and grew out her hair. But that was not enough. With financial help from her foreign boyfriend, combined with what she had saved up over the years, Ngoc made a life-changing trip to Thailand to have the sex reassignment surgery that completely turned her into a woman. Not knowing of the purpose of her son’s trip, Ngoc’s mother welcomed her new daughter back in tears, but was ultimately supportive of her decision.

“People assumed that my life would be much easier post-surgery, but it is not. When you are born into a body like mine, not a real man nor a real woman, it’s hard. I have to give up many things, because of social stigma, of discrimination, etc.” she said.

For a better future

Ngoc’s working day starts at 9 every night and ends around 5 the next morning. She drinks, talks, and flirts with her customers. That she used to be a man gives her a clear advantage over her colleagues, besides her beauty and pageant title. ‘They are always curious about a transsexual like me,” she said.

Drained after work, she drags herself back to her tiny rented room every morning and throws herself into bed. “I sleep like a log. I need to so that I can wake up later to work. And then the cycle repeats again, day after day.”

The highlights of her routine only come when people call and offer modeling or acting jobs, which she loves doing more than anything. “It is a way out for me, to escape from the harsh realities of my life.”

But it is a competitive business, much more so for people like Ngoc. Show organizers disregard her once they know of her past, because of “my complicated personal identification and the social stigma still attached to transsexuals,” she said.

Once Ngoc was offered a female role in a major movie shot in Ho Chi Minh City, and the prospect of a brighter future excited her for days. But despite the director’s wishes, its producer later refused to let a transsexual actress play.

“The director said he will contact me if he has a transsexual role. I think it makes sense that they didn’t give me the chance. It is a major film that will be screened for millions of people. Who knows how the crowd will react to somebody like me,” she said, calm and accepting.

Fortunately, there are better days. This month, Ngoc is preparing for her first trip abroad for a modeling job. Ngoc hopes she can invest the money she earns into a proper job for a more stable life.

Already good at doing nails, she is learning to become a make-up artist.

“I need to plan ahead so that when I can’t live off my looks any more, I can still support myself. With all the medical treatments I have been through, you know how my health has and will be affected. This look won’t stay forever, either.”

For now, she is still working at the bar until the day she leaves, earning a bit more money to help her mother and siblings out. Asked about her personal life, Ngoc said “I just broke up with my boyfriend. He, too, couldn’t deal with the pressure that comes with dating a transsexual.” She waved goodbye and was gone.

[jackbl]

Big biz to sell cigarettes in vn

Vietnam smokes 4.17 billion packs of cigarettes a year
================================================== =====================
Vietnam consumed a total of 4.174 billion packs of cigarettes in 2012, the Vietnam Tobacco Association reported Tuesday.

The shocking figure was released at a conference intended to implement a national program to combat smuggled and contraband cigarettes in Hanoi.

Vietnam’s cigarette consumption has been on the rise since 2010. Cigarette consumption recorded in 2010 and 2011 was 3.986 billion packs and 4.131 billion packs respectively.

In the first eight months of this year, tobacco consumption reached 2.760 billion packs, the association said.

Smuggled cigarettes are another headache for authorities, the association added.

Last year some 900 million cigarette packs were illicitly brought to Vietnam, accounting for 21.6 percent of the domestic cigarette consumption of 2012.

JET and HERO brands account for 90 percent of the smuggled products. Since 2012 they were joined by ESSE, complicating the domestic market further.

The smuggled products caused huge financial damage to the country.

With some 800 million cigarette packs smuggled on an annual basis, the state budget loses up to VND4.2 trillion worth of taxes.

The illicit products also cost the tobacco growing areas 17,000 tons of materials and 39,000 jobs of local growers, who also lose some VND170 billion of earnings per year.

Vietnamese cigarette makers also lose up to VND250 billion of profits due to the smuggled products every year.

Vu Van Cuong, chairman of Vinataba, the state-run cigarette maker, said the problem is not because local products are of lower quality than the illicit counterparts.

It is because of the exorbitant special consumption tax of 65 percent, plus other high taxes, which makes domestic products less competitive as they bear higher prices.

Forces to fight against smuggled products are funded VND3-9 billion a year, but not so many cases have been detected.

The seized and destroyed products only account for 1 percent of the real amount of cigarettes illegally brought to the country, according to the tobacco association.

This is because demand for smuggled cigarettes remains high, while authorities do not have the means to curb the sophisticated tricks of the smugglers.

Last year global market research company Euromonitor International also reported that Vietnam is the top beer-drinking nation in the Southeast Asian region, followed by Thailand and the Philippines.

Vietnamese drinkers put down 2.6 billion liters of beer in 2011, according to the report.

In 2010, the Euromonitor International forecast that beer consumption (by volume) in the Vietnamese market would grow rapidly.

Vietnamese consumed 1.6 billion liters of beer in 2009, a surge of 56 percent over 2004.

[jackbl]

37岁越南单亲妈妈，6年内嫁3个狮城男！

这名越南女在越南未婚先孕后遭男友抛弃，于是以假名来新工作养女儿，最终在申请长期探访准证时因提供假资料 被揭发，从而爆出她来新后的3段婚姻。

37岁的阮坛冬，从2008年到2012年之间犯下11项罪，控方以其中三项罪名提控她，分别是无相关工作 准证、在新加坡进行无执照的汇款生意，及在申请长期探访准证时没有诚实作答。

求情绘述 坎坷感情路

被告的代表律师代她求情时，绘述她过去的坎坷感情路，她在2002年在越南未婚先孕，男友得悉她有孕后抛弃 她。

[jackbl]

Transgender people in Vietnam: P5 – A new life for Phong
================================================== ==============
It was the day before Le Quoc Phong’s sex reassignment surgery at the international Piyavate Hospital in Bangkok, Thailand. With financial help from her foster father, she had finally made it to Thailand with her sister and a few friends for the long-awaited procedure.

Before the surgery, blood and urine tests were taken, as well as medications to induce vomiting. In her last minutes before surgery, Phong wrote on her Facebook wall about the harsh journey she had been through: “Born into a big family of many siblings, I’ve known I wanted to be a girl ever since I was a child. I knew I was one inside, but it was hard even to put these thoughts into words. I had thought I would have to live the rest of my life like this…”

After years of denying her own identity and burying her secrets, Phong finally learned to live as she was and that it was not wrong to be the person she wanted to be. “It was not easy accepting my own self. Having been through it all – pain, self-hatred, self-pity, insecurities, shame--I decided to live the way I wanted to,” she wrote.

In 2010, upon graduating from college, Phong came out to her family and told them her plan to go to Thailand for gender reconstruction surgery. While Phong’s father reacted with anger, her mother was calm but deeply hurt. It took them a long time to accept their child and support her for the next great challenge.

In 2011, Phong met make-up artist Le Duy, a trans-woman who helped Phong realize her dream. Following Duy’s advice, Phong underwent psychological tests, a health checkup, and took hormonal medications to prepare for the operation.

March 14, 2013

After a 24-hour wait, the much-awaited surgery finally took place, granting Phong the life she had always wanted. After waking up from the one-hour procedure, she wrote on Facebook: “It is over now, I have just woken up. I feel so happy now that I have become the real ME. Although it hurts so so much!”

The status was also a message for her family, especially her mother. “Please don’t worry about me. Mom, I have become your daughter now. Your old son will always be with you, you just have another daughter,” she wrote.

The first week after the surgery, Phong was bed-ridden and all she could eat was plain rice porridge. In the second week, her doctor allowed her to practice walking again. “Every step hurt,” she recalled, “it was so painful that all I could do was lie in exactly the same spot on the bed.”

On her fourteenth day, with the help of her doctor, Phong started having vaginal dilation, a process required for all trans-women after sex reassignment surgery. This procedure must be done for life or else the reconstructed sexual organ will ‘close,’ but right after the operation, “the pain is unbearable”, said Phong. The doctor gave her a 16-centimeter glass dilator for the everyday routine, “which is like my daily torture”.

“Think of it like a skin ulcer you must poke a stick into every day. Now you know how it feels,” she recalled.

Three weeks after the surgery, Phong and her sister returned to their hometown, Quang Nam. They knew that airport securities would probably not allow Phong to board the plane because she now looked nothing like the person on her personal identification card.

Fortunately, after her sister’s explanation, airport officers were understanding and let them pass security checkpoints with heart-warming greetings and encouraging comments on her new look. “That was a very moving experience,” Phong shared, “that they held no prejudice against a person like me.”

“I was in tears and could only mumble that I will be a good person to thank them and show my appreciation.”

Since Phong came back, things have changed for her and she is still getting used to her new life as a woman. “From dressing up, to walking, to taking medications, to the painful dilation practice every day,” Phong shared.

Asked why she went to such extraordinary lengths to become a woman, Phong simply said, “I didn’t choose to be like this. I wish I could be just a normal man and didn’t have to go through all of this. But I have to accept who I am. I am a girl and I am happy I can be one now.”

[jackbl]

Transgender people in Vietnam: P6 – Social outcasts?
================================================== =================
Medical intervention can fulfill the emotional and physical needs of many trans-men and women, but how will these changes be embraced by our legal system? Have their wishes to lead a normal life been considered at all in Vietnam?

As an ID is required in almost any daily activity in our modern society, many transgender people in Vietnam still find it hard to do even the most basic tasks, from opening a bank account to traveling or obtaining a driver’s license. This is because the government has yet to legally allow sex reassignment surgery and have it recognized in official documentations. Successful cases, if any, are only exceptions in which there is considerable flexibility and circumvention from officials.

39-year-old Pham Le Quynh Tram is a school teacher who spent years struggling to obtain a new official identification. Before her sex reassignment surgery in Thailand, she was Pham Van Hiep from Chon Thanh, Binh Phuoc.

For over a year, she frequented the People’s Committee of Binh Phuoc Province to apply for a new ID and other relevant documents.

“I was rejected every single time I went there. But I was stubborn, and came so many times that they all knew me,” she said.

Her tireless efforts were fruitful after a year and a month later, when an official finally told her that the People’s Committee could handle the process at district level.

She then did as instructed. The papers required by the People’s Comittee of Chon Thanh District included medical proof to confirm her new sexuality and a verified translated certificate of the transsexual surgery provided by her hospital in Thailand. It may sound easy, but the process was time-consuming and at times confusing to her as there were no clear and coherent guidelines.

After all the obstacles, on the day she received her new official identification with a brand new female name, “I burst into tears,” she said, “Back when it didn’t show who I’d changed into, it was really difficult for me. Now I won’t have to explain and prove it to people everywhere I go.”

Not as fortunate as Tram, Jessica still has to bear the male name Nguyen Huu Toan on her new ID, although her gender is already changed to Female. The application process was not easy for her either, as she faced clear discrimination and lack of cooperation from government officers who handle this type of process and documentation.

“I hope one day the law will grant people like us an appropriate process of re-identification. I hope I can change my name one day, get married and live with the person I love,” Jessica said.

Make-up artist Le Duy, who has yet to obtain a new identification card, has to face the same tiresome identification issues every time she travels.

“I am held at security many times. No matter how I explain it, usually the officers can’t decide and have to ask for their bosses. Then comes the long process of showing them my old ID and my surgery certificate from the Thai hospital. Then they send me to a closed room for a full body search. I’m so tired of it,” she shared.

The same problems arised when she was pulled over by a police officer for a minor traffic violation. She was only allowed to go once she agreed to leave her motorbike with the police, and rushed home to grab her surgery certificate to prove what her ID could not.

“Ever since then, I do not go anywhere without that piece of paper. I have to have it with me!”

To avoid the great obstacles involved with these applications, many trans-men and women opt to pay money to have fake documents made, or bribe government workers to simplify the process or shorten the waiting period.

The lack of legislation on this particular issue not only causes great inconvenience, but clearly marginalizes many of the transgender community in our society, as their social and human rights are not recognized or protected. They lose out on many things, including stable job opportunities, medical care, and even the ability to vote.

To earn a living, many have to choose unprofessional or hazardous jobs that also give them little to no security and stability. Thus, instead of being encouraged to have a voice and more active role in our society, they are isolated and treated as outcasts.

Isn’t it time something is done about this?

[jackbl]

Vietnamese doctor throws customer's body into river
================================================== ===============
A doctor in Hanoi has been suspected of throwing the body of a woman who died after a cosmetic surgery at his own beauty salon into a river, local police said.

Nguyen Manh Tuong, 40, owner of Cat Tuong beauty salon located on Hai Ba Trung district, was arrested on Tuesday on murder charges.

Besides running the salon, Tuong works for the state-owned Bach Mai hospital in the Vietnam's capital.

Police in Hanoi held a press conference the same day during which Colonel Giap Van Duong, chief of the Hanoi Criminal Investigation Department, revealed many details of the murder.

According to the senior police officer, Huyen, the victim, came to Cat Tuong beauty salon to undergo a breast implant surgery on Saturday morning (Oct. 19). She was anesthetized by three nurses including Le Ngoc Van, Bui Thi Hoa, and Thu before being operated on by Tuong.

After the surgery, Huyen had difficulty breathing and even started foaming at the mouth. The nurses injected her with some unidentified medicine. But her body later turned blue. Tuong then gave her oxygen and other emergency treatment but failed to save her life.

To cover up the crime, Tuong instructed his employee Dao Quang Khanh, a security guard at his salon, to leave Huyen's scooter on Co Linh street in Long Bien district’s Thach Ban ward which is far away from his salon. The duo later transported Huyen’s body into Tuong’s car to Thanh Tri Bridge and threw it into Hong (Red) River.

Colonel Duong added that at 23pm on October 19, Vu Van Tuan, a resident in Thach Ban ward, found the victim’s bike and handbag. Tuan found two ATM cards, one cell-phone, and an ID card named Le Thi Thanh Huyen in her handbag.

Tuan contacted Huyen’s husband using the victim’s cell-phone to inform him of the case.

Huy, her husband, told investigators that Huyen left home at 8:45am on October 19. After receiving the phone call from Tuan, Huy and other family members managed to look for her everywhere but did not succeed in so they reported her missing to local police.

Initial investigations found that Huyen told her co-workers at a travel firm based in Hanoi that she wanted to undergo a cosmetic surgery to increase the size of her breasts.

According to some reports, Huy also found a receipt issued by Cat Tuong beauty salon in his wife’s clothes. And based on this tip, local police summoned Tuong and his employees for questioning. Tuong later confessed to police that he threw Huyen's body into the river to destroy the traces of crime.

Nguyen Viet Cuong, chief inspector of the Hanoi Health Department, told Tuoi Tre on Tuesday that Cat Tuong beauty salon offered many cosmetic services which were not licensed by authorities and charged from VND30 to 60 million (US$1,442 to $2,845) each.

As of 7pm on Oct. 22, police announced they have just arrested security guard Dao Quang Khanh, Dr. Tuong’s accomplice in the murder. Before that, police issued a warrant for the arrest of Khanh and summoned 15 employees at Cat Tuong salon to determine whether or not they are involved into the case.

[jackbl]

Search for body dumped by doctor into river continues
================================================== ========================
Concerned agencies are looking for the body of a woman who died after a botched cosmetic surgery at a Hanoi-based beauty salon. Her doctor threw her body into the Hong (Red) River after her death.

At 7:00 23/10 morning, the victim’s body had not been found and rescuers and the victim’s relatives are continuing their search.

The victim is Le Thi Thanh Huyen, 37, who lived at 36 Hang Thiec Street, Hoan Kiem District, Hanoi. The doctor is Nguyen Manh Tuong, 40, the owner of Cat Tuong beauty salon in Hanoi, who was arrested on Tuesday on murder charges.

Tuong is a doctor at the Bach Mai Hospital in Hanoi, one of the most well-known hospitals in Vietnam.

After hearing that Tuong had thrown Huyen’s body into the river, the victim’s relatives hired motorboats to search for her body on the river.

Pham Duc Quang, 53, the victim’s uncle, told Tuoi Tre in tears, “Huyen is a very good-natured woman. On October 19, she said she took her son to school and was going to a beauty salon, but she did not return.

T, Huyen’s sister, said, “In the late evening of October 19, a man called her husband to say that her motorbike and handbag had been found on a street. Upon realizing that she had been thrown into the river, all of us were astonished.”

The man who alerted Huyen’s husband is Vu Van Tuan, of Hanoi’s Long Bien District. Tuan found Huyen’s motorbike abandoned on Co Linh Street in Thach Ban Ward, with the key to the vehicle still in place and a handbag hanging on the handlebars.

Cat Tuong Beauty Salon in Hanoi, where Le Thi Thanh Huyen died after a cosmetic surgery on October 19, 2013 (Photo: Tuoi Tre)

Tuan opened the bag and found two mobile phones, two ATM cards, and an ID card in the name of Le Thi Thanh Huyen. Tuan contacted Huyen’s husband, Nguyen Huu Huy, using the victim’s mobile phone to inform him of his discovery.

As previously reported, Huyen came to Cat Tuong beauty salon on Saturday morning, October 19, to have abdominal liposuction and breast lift surgery.

After being anesthetized by three nurses, she underwent aesthetic operations performed by Dr Tuong from 12 pm until 4 pm.

Thirty minutes after the surgery, Huyen had difficulty breathing and started foaming at the mouth. Dr Tuong gave her an injection and she appeared to recover. But at 5:45 pm, Tuyen’s body suddenly turned blue and her blood pressure could not be measured. Tuong put her on a respirator and gave her a cardiotonic but could not save her.

Under Tuong’s instructions, Dao Quang Khanh, a security guard at his salon, left Huyen's scooter on Co Linh street, far away from his salon. The two men later carried Huyen’s body into Tuong’s car to Thanh Tri Bridge and threw it into the Hong River.

After investigation, police arrested Tuong and Khanh yesterday morning, October 22.

The police are continuing their investigation of the case.

At a press briefing held this morning by Bach Mai Hospital about the case, Do Doan Loi, a deputy director of the hospital, said the hospital's management has suspended Dr Tuong and set up a working team to coordinate with police in their investigation.

[jackbl]

Please be take note when u heard your bx/gf wants to do surgeries ............

Killer doctor operates illegally; body dumped into river still not found
================================================== ==================================
Cat Tuong Beauty Salon, at 45 Giai Phong Street, Hai Ba Trung District, Hanoi, where a woman died recently from botched surgery, has been found to be operating illegally.

After her death on the evening of October 19, the woman’s body was dumped into the Hong River by the facility’s owner, Dr Nguyen Manh Tuong. By 24/10 morning, the victim’s body has still not been found.

Colonel Duong Van Giap, head of the Hanoi Social Crime Investigation Police Department, told Tuoi Tre that Dr Tuong had not filed an application to the Hanoi Health Department for a license for offering cosmetic surgeries to customers.

Therefore, the cosmetic surgery services such as the abdominal liposuction and breast lift surgery performed on the victim are illegal, Giap said.

Nguyen Viet Cuong, chief inspector of Hanoi Health Department, also told Dan Tri news website that Cat Tuong has not been licensed by the Hanoi Health Department to carry out cosmetic surgeries.

“This beauty salon has been operating illegally,” Cuong said.

Cuong emphasized that all licensed beauty salons must operate within their license.

On its website www.cattuong.org, Cat Tuong has been advertised as a reputable and reliable beauty salon in Hanoi headed by Dr Manh Tuong, who has 14 years of experience as a cosmetic surgeon. A series of beauty services are advertised on the website.

After 3 pm on October 22, after Dr Tuong and his salon’s security guard were arrested, the site was no longer accessible.

Dr Tuong is a doctor who has worked at Bach Mai Hospital in Hanoi since 2006. This is one of the most reputable hospitals in Vietnam.

Tuong has been suspended from the hospital for investigation, said Do Doan Loi, a deputy director of the hospital.

As previously reported, Le Thi Thanh Huyen, 37, came to the salon on October 19 to have abdominal liposuction and breast lift surgery. After being anesthetized, she underwent aesthetic operations performed by Dr Tuong from 12 pm until 4 pm.

Thirty minutes after the surgery, Huyen had difficulty breathing and started foaming at the mouth. Dr Tuong gave her an injection and she appeared to recover. But at 5:45 pm, Tuyen’s body suddenly turned blue and her blood pressure could not be measured. Tuong put her on a respirator and gave her a cardiotonic but could not save her.

Tuong and Dao Quang Khanh, a security guard at his salon, carried Huyen’s body into Tuong’s car to Thanh Tri Bridge and threw it into the Hong River.

After investigation, police arrested Tuong and Khanh on October 22.


Body remains unfound

By this morning, October 24, the body of the victim has yet to be found, despite great efforts by concerned agencies and the victim’s relatives who have hired motorboats to search for the body on the river.

Colonel Giap said his department has sent 15 officers to take part in the search for the body, while Hanoi Waterway Police Department also said its has assigned a team and a patrol boat to look for the victim.

Hanoi police and the victim’s relatives have also distributed leaflets regarding the case to residents along the river, asking them to provide any related information they may have.

Yesterday the victim’s family received some information about a floating body seen in Hanoi and Nam Dinh province, but after examination, there was no corpse was found, Colonel Giap said.

What charge for Dr Tuong?

According to investigators, finding the body will help them clarify if Huyen died before or after being thrown into the river by Tuong and his accomplice. Such a clarification is necessary for police to decide an exact charge for Tuong.

Specifically, if a forensic autopsy on the body shows that there is water in the victim’s chest or abdomen, this means the victim was still alive when she was dumped into the river. In this case, Tuong will be charged with “murder” in pursuant to Article 93 of the Penal Code.

If the autopsy shows that the victim had died before being thrown into the river, Tuong can be charged with “accidentally causing human death due to breach of professional or administrative regulations,” under Article 99 of the Code or with “breaching regulations on medical examination and treatment…” according to Article 242 of the Code.

In the event that the victim’s body is not found, it will be difficult for law agencies to prosecute Tuong for murder charges, the Investigation Agency of Hanoi Police said.

[jackbl]

More victims of doctor dumping client’s body hospitalized
================================================== ==================
Five more patients of Dr. Nguyen Manh Tuong, who had thrown the body of a woman who died following a cosmetic surgery at his own beauty salon into a river, have been given checkups and hospitalized.

According to Dr. Nguyen Huy Tho, former head of Hospital 108’s Plastic Surgery Department, two of them had their nose bridge raised and thigh fat taken out at Tuong’s Cat Tuong salon and recently showed complications.

Tho added that he and his staff are willing to provide checkups and counseling to any of Tuong’s patients.

Despite the tremendous efforts by professional divers to search for the body of 37-year-old Le Thi Thanh Huyen, which was thrown into the Hong (Red) river by Tuong and his security guard, it remained nowhere to be found. Several who claimed to be psychics also offered help with the search but too failed to locate Huyen’s body.

The police and the victim’s family will expand the search scope to Yen Lenh bridge in Hung Yen province or even further, using both professional divers and nets.

Some experts said that without the body, it would be difficult to charge Tuong with murder as the cause of Huyen's death couldn't be determined. They said that if the victim was still alive when Tuong dumped her into the river, he would be charged with murder. Otherwise, he would be charged with negligence in medical operations only.

Investigators also found that Tuong’s wife, who is also a doctor, did receive a call from him and learned of Huyen’s death. She persuaded Tuong to report the incident to the police, but he refused and dumped the body to cover up his crime.

Tuong, 40, owner of Cat Tuong beauty salon located in Hai Ba Trung district, was arrested some days ago on murder charges. Tuong also works for state-owned Bach Mai hospital in the Vietnam's capital.

According to the police, Huyen came to Cat Tuong salon to undergo a breast implant surgery on Oct. 19 morning. She was anesthetized by three nurses before being operated on by Tuong.

Following the surgery, Huyen had much difficulty breathing and started foaming at the mouth. The nurses injected her with some unidentified medicine, but her body soon turned blue. Tuong then gave her oxygen and other emergency treatment but failed to save her life.

To cover up the crime, Tuong instructed a security guard at his salon to leave Huyen's scooter far away from his salon. The two then transported Huyen’s body to Thanh Tri Bridge in Tuong’s car and threw it into the Hong River.

Huyen’s death has sparked concerns and outcry among the public about Tuong’s unqualified cosmetic surgery skills and worrying medical ethics. His beauty salon offered many cosmetic services which were not licensed by authorities and charged from VND30 to 60 million (US$1,442 to $2,845) each.

A few days after the incident, many similarly unlicensed facilities have been found operating in the capital. Many obtain licenses to offer skin care and makeup services only, not cosmetic surgeries.

The Ministry of Health has also ordered comprehensive inspections at all beauty shops nationwide

[jackbl]

Learn Vietnamese with Video - Learn Awesome Vietnamese Forest Animal Vocabulary!

[jackbl]

Vietnam to welcome the 90 millionth citizen on November 1
================================================== ======================
VietNamNet Bridge - On the morning of November 1, the 90 millionth baby of Vietnam will be celebrated at the Hanoi-based Central Maternity Hospital. The event is held by the Ministry of Health and the General Department of Population and Family Planning.

To welcome this special event, on November 1-2, the General Department of Population and Family Planning will organize three major programs: Welcoming the 90 millionth baby born at the Central Maternity Hospital, a walking parade with the theme "90 million steps of Lac Hong posterity" and the "90 million loving hearts" music show.

The walking parade will be held on the morning of November 2 on the Truong Sa - Hoang Sa road in District 3, Ho Chi Minh City. It aims to represent the spirit of unity, the determination of the Vietnamese people with the participation of over 1,000 people representing the Ministry of Health, the General Department of Population and Family Planning, HCM City Party Committee and People's Committee, departments and agencies and representatives of the medical and population officers.

The music show will take place at 8pm on November 2 at the Hanoi Opera House and will be aired live on the Vietnam Television (VTV). The show includes two parts: Part 1 - the origin of Vietnamese and the process to build and protect the country in difficult times; Part 2 - Vietnam in new stages of development.

The show aims to release the messages about the achievements, opportunities and challenges of Vietnam when the population has reached 90 million and about love and pride for the country.

Mai Nguyen

[jackbl]

Most businesses in Vietnam choose to pay bribes
================================================== ======================
Six out of ten businesses operating in Vietnam admit they must pay costly ‘unofficial fees,’ and yet most of them choose to pay under table through their own initiative.

The revelation was made by deputy chief inspector Tran Duc Luong at a workshop seeking to enhance business engagements by promoting integrity in Hanoi on Wednesday.

Luong said most businesses in Vietnam are small-sized enterprises that lack a professional administrative management basis, and thus “pay inadequate attention to the need of following the transparency code of conduct in relationships with regulatory agencies and partners.”

The deputy chief inspector said 60 percent of businesses criticize the exorbitant ‘unofficial money’ they must pay.

“Thirty percent say they have to pay bribes following officials’ extortions or requests, while 70 percent admit they do it without being asked,” Luong said.

Speaking at the event, British Ambassador to Vietnam Antony Stokes wondered if it is really necessary to bribe to be successful in Vietnam.

And the answer, according to what he learned from two similar workshops previously held in Da Nang and Ho Chi Minh City, is that it is indeed “not necessary,” Stokes said.

Many businesses shared their policies and initiatives to fight against corruption during the Da Nang and HCMC conferences, he added.

The “Enhancing business engagements by promoting integrity in doing businesses in Vietnam” workshop is co-organized by the State Inspectorate of Vietnam, Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and the UK Embassy in Vietnam.

It is held in preparation for the annual anti-corruption talk to be hosted on November 12.

The workshop will convene again on November 1 to give businesses an opportunity to voice their opinions regarding the issue.

[jackbl]

Be careful if u are doing this ........

Illegal marriage broker for Chinese seized on spot
================================================== =============
Police have detained two Vietnamese women for illegally organizing a matchmaking session in Ho Chi Minh City for Chinese men to select local women as their prospective wives.

The incident occurred at 6 am at an eatery at the Vuon Lai Tenement in Phu Tho Hoa Ward, Tan Phu District in HCMC, where a “meeting” was held for three Chinese men to meet in the flesh three Vietnamese young women for prospective marriages, through the arrangement of a female broker.

The three women hail from poor families in the southwestern region.

After examination, police detained the broker and her female interpreter for illegally providing marriage-brokering services.

Many similar cases have previously happened in different locations.

On December 28, 2012, officers from the Can Tho City Immigration Department caught seven Chinese men meeting four Vietnamese women in a hotel room through their matchmakers who organized the meeting to earn fees from the Chinese.

On October 25, 2012, Ho Chi Minh City police arrested a Vietnamese couple who illegally provided marriage brokering services to Chinese men.

That day the police raided Thu Nghia Hotel in Binh Tan District, where To Van Tai, 57, and his wife Nguyen Thi Truc, 29, arranged a matchmaking session for four Vietnamese women and two Chinese men.

Tai, confessed to the police that he had been involved in the illegal marriage brokerage business since 2009.

Tai said he pocketed US $400 for each successful brokerage, while his wife, who acted as an interpreter, charged each man $100 for her services.