Vietnam establishes gene bank to identify martyrs’ remains

Addressing a conference to honour people who rendered great services to the fatherland, Chinh noted that July 27 is an opportunity for the entire army and people to express their remembrance, honour and gratitude for the great contributions of heroic martyrs, wounded and sick soldiers, families of martyrs and people who rendered great services to the nation.

The PM and other delegates attending the conference observed a moment of silence commemorating the sacrifices and great contributions of heroic martyrs who fell in the cause of national construction and defence, as well as commemorating Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong who passed away in Hanoi recently.

The Party leader, during his lifetime paid special attention to taking care of war invalids, martyrs and people with meritorious services to the revolution.

According to the PM, nearly 1.2 million Vietnamese people voluntarily headed for the battlefields, leaving behind their dreams and ambitions, to defend the fatherland against foreign aggression, and many of them laid down their lives there.

The war is over, but the whole country still has about 180,000 martyrs whose remains have not been found, and 300,000 martyrs’ remains in cemeteries whose identities have been unaccounted for, he said.

The establishment of the gene bank helps determine the identities of unknown martyrs in cemeteries, said the PM, who set a target for the gene bank to identify at least 60% of the unknown martyrs.

He asked relevant ministries, agencies and localities to well carry out the Party’s guidelines, the State’s policies and laws concerning the care of war invalids, sick soldiers, families of martyrs, and people with meritorious services to the revolution.

He also asked them to speed ​​up the process of searching, gathering and verifying martyrs’ remains using empirical methods for martyrs’ graves that lack information in cemeteries.

Statistics unveiled by the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs (MOLISA) show nearly 10,000 samples of martyrs’ remains and more than 3,000 biological samples of martyrs’ relatives have been taken for DNA examination, and more than 1,000 martyrs have been identified.

MOLISA Minister Dao Ngoc Dung said taking samples of unidentified martyrs and their relatives for assessment and storage in the gene bank is a step forward in searching and determining the identities the remains of martyrs unaccounted for.

This is a very sacred task of great significance in the journey of searching and returning the names of fallen heroes, said the minister.