Nguyen Thi Kim Tien, director of Linh Xuan Centre

The action followed an inspection by the city's Labour, Invalid and Social Affairs Department yesterday, a day after Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper published a report that said caregivers at the centre smacked HIV-positive children and used slippers to force them to eat.

Five caregivers involved in the abuse were also suspended.

The suspension will last till April 21, during which time the municipal authority will inspect the implementation of the Law on Child Protection, Care and Education at the centre.

Director of the city's Labour, Invalid and Social Affairs Department Tran Trung Dung assigned head of the social sponsor division Le Chu Giang to take over the management of the Linh Xuan centre.

Leaders of the Health Ministry, including Deputy Minister Nguyen Thanh Long, asked the relevant agencies to investigate and punish the guilty persons who abused the children with HIV.

Linh Xuan Centre has 120 children under 16, including 22 in the three to six age group in the Mang Non Ward who are cared for by 15 workers.

Pictures and videos shot since the beginning of the year by Tuoi Tre newspaper showed the caregivers, in the 30 to 52 age group, brutally beating some of the infants in the Mang Non Ward for not eating or for playing during meals.