Vietnam announces health minister’s official Facebook page

The Vietnamese Ministry of Health has announced the official Facebook page of Minister Nguyen Thi Kim Tien, who uses it as a channel to provide information and receive questions regarding healthcare from the public.

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>> Premier asks Vietnam government’s official information be posted on social media

Minister Tien’s official Facebook page is accessible at https://www.facebook.com/botruongboyte.vn, the ministry’s office said, adding that she also has a fan page.

The Facebook page and fan page were set up in late 2014 and the former has been providing updated official information on the health sector, said Ha Anh Duc, deputy chief of the ministry’s secretariat.

The official announcement of the minister’s Facebook address followed the fact that there are many pages claiming to be the minister's Facebook page, but they are fake, Duc said.

Regarding the question of whether Minister Tien’s Facebook page will be handled by herself or her subordinates, the ministry’s office told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper that it will depend on her time.

However, the minister still regularly views the page and makes replies to queries posted by members of the public, the office said.

The ministry considers the minister’s Facebook page a channel to receive information from the public and other agencies, the office said.

As far as Tuoi Tre knows, Minister Tien is the first member of the current government to run an official Facebook page.

At a meeting of the government held on January 15, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung urged authorities to provide the public with official and accurate information on social media as it is impossible to ban people from uploading information to social networking sites. 

PM Dung emphasized that the Government Office should put forth more effort to better its information and communication activities.

“It is unacceptable for us to manage and operate the country’s affairs but fail to keep the public informed of the government’s policies,” the premier said.

The government should post correct and timely information on national policies on social media to make it known to the public and keep them from being influenced by wrong information, he added.

“It is impossible for us to ban or prevent people from posting information on the Internet. The most important thing is that we should provide official, accurate and timely information on social media, thereby building trust in the people,” the PM insisted.

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