Eleven guests sat down on December 31 for the longest online forum ever held in Vietnam to answer more than 2,000 questions from people all over the country, the Tuoi Tre newspaper reported. The 10-hour forum, which was hosted by Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper, saw the participation of guests from all aspects of life, including a Government official, a National Assembly deputy, a lawyer, an entrepreneur, educators, researchers, artists and athletes. Minister of Health Nguyen Thi Kim Tien was in the hot seat and received more than 400 questions regarding her ministry's policies and plans to reduce problems in the healthcare sector, including bribery and medical work ethics. Tien herself doubled her one-hour session to answer more questions from the public. “There are three issues that matter to me the most: Patient hardships, staff attitudes and financial issues,” Tien told a reporter on the sideline of the forum. To educator Van Nhu Cuong, who is a famous textbook compiler and math expert, most of the questions were about the resolution on the fundamental and comprehensive reform of education and training adopted by the Communist Party of Vietnam’s Central Committee last year. “The reason for the slowdown of Vietnam’s education is not because we lack of talented people,” Cuong said. “The problem is that the education and training sector is hesitant to reform, does not want to reform and does not know how to reform.” Members of the public were reported to have visited the newspaper's offices to direct their questions in person to the guests. (Vietnam News Jan 2)
