The Ministry of Health – in collaboration with the Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) – organised a one-day event on May 9 to provide free general health check-ups, examinations and treatment services to people living in the capital’s Tuol Kork district.
The event was sponsored by the ACU and the secretariat of the National Counter-Terrorism Committee in collaboration with the health ministry, Surgeons for Cambodia and the Khmer Sight Foundation.
The free healthcare services were provided to the district residents from 8am to 5pm at Wat Neak Voan.
Anti-corruption Unit (ACU) head Om Yentieng is also the chairman for the national working group for Tuol Kork district and that is what gave him the idea to hold the event for district residents. He said that both Cambodian and foreign doctors would be on hand all day as volunteers to provide free consultations and simple treatments.
Yentieng confirmed that the medical treatment will eventually be available to all 10 communes of the district to help the community meet its healthcare needs.
“There is an eye examination room staffed by ophthalmologists who can diagnose any vision-related problems. If the person simply needs glasses, then the team will arrange for them to get a pair of glasses free of charge. For those who have eye diseases that need more complex treatments or surgery, we will arrange that too,” he said.
He added that they have also set up separate general examination rooms for both children and the elderly, which are staffed by pediatricians and gerontologists, respectively.
District governor Chea Pisey, who participated in the planning of the event, expressed his happiness and pride at being able to provide the residents with free high quality healthcare services from experts.
“Today [May 9] we examine and treat people in two communes – Phsar Doeum Kor and Boeung Kak II – with about 600 participants expected,” he said.
Currently, there are 10 communes in Toul Kork district which are divided into 143 villages with a total population of over 25,000 families consisting of over 74,000 people.
Khmer Sight Foundation’s mission manager, a Canadian expat who only gave his first name as Victor, said the ultimate goal of their foundation was to save people from blindness and cataracts.
“We focus on this issue to help the Cambodian people. If we think someone has a serious eye problem we will take them to the clinic for treatment later on, because today we’re just checking to see if they have this problem and to what extent,” he said.
The head of the General Surgical Technical Division of Surgeons for Cambodia – an American known only as Dr Steven – also planned to be on hand all day for the event.
“Today we are looking for people with gallstones and intestinal diseases and through primary diagnosis we expect to see that most people with those problems will have symptoms such as coughing, vomiting or diarrhea. If we encounter patients with these issues we will take them to our clinic at the Khmer-Soviet Friendship Hospital for further testing and treatment,” he said.
