Vietnam doctors alarmed by spate of acid attacks
HANOI - Doctors in Vietnam are alarmed by a surge
in
horrifically disfiguring acid attacks on
women and have called for the crime to be treated like murder, a
state-run newspaper reported.
The weekend edition of the Phu Nu (Women) newspaper said there were
12
reported attacks involving sulphuric acid in
Ho Chi Minh City in the first two months of this year, mainly
provoked
by sexual jealousy.
It quoted Tran Doan Dao, a doctor at Ho Chi Minh City's Cho Ray
Hospital, as saying most of the victims were
women.
In such attacks the highly corrosive acid is usually thrown in the
face
of the victim leaving them horribly disfigured.
The paper said the city had 33 reported acid attacks last year and
that
as well as the high cost of treatment, the victims
often need psychological help.
It said the price for 0.8 litre of acid was only about 2,200
Vietnamese
dong (15 U.S. cents).
The chief judge of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Court, Bui Hoang
Danh,
told the paper that under prevailing law, acid
attacks carry a maximum sentence of 20 years for intentional
wounding.
Murder carries a maximum penalty of death by firing squad.
Reuters - March 26, 2001.
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