Tin Sokhavuth
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| Minister of Health Mam Bun Heng (left) at a ceremony appointing Dr. Beat Richner as an advisor to the Ministry of Health. Supplied |
Dr. Beat Richner, an advisor to the Ministry of Health, called on the government on Sunday to test doctors working in private clinics throughout the Kingdom and if they failed, their clinic should be closed, he said.
He said this after 146 severely ill children were transferred from private clinics and referral hospitals to Kantha Bopha hospitals early on Sunday morning.
According to Dr. Richner, the children suffered from dengue fever and encephalitis. They were improperly treated by doctors working in private clinics and referral hospitals.
“As advisor to the Ministry of Health, I ask the Ministry of Health to organize exams for medical doctors working in private clinics. If they do not pass the exam, their private clinic must be closed,” wrote Dr. Richner in a post to his Facebook page on Sunday.
He added that his hospitals had spent a lot of money transferring the sick children from the private clinics and referral hospitals, where neither a diagnosis was carried out nor a correct treatment was given. They also kept the patients for too many days to get as much money as they could, he said.
The pediatric doctor said that no staff at his hospitals worked at private clinics and no one took money from patients. As a result, he said, the Kantha Bopha hospitals showed “the best correlation cost/healing rate” and there was no corruption at all.
Khmer Times was unable to reach the spokesman at the Ministry of Health for comment.
Speaking at the inauguration ceremony of a new University of Health Sciences building and to celebrate the university’s 70th anniversary last month, Prime Minister Hun Sen claimed that most doctors in the country help people and that the mistakes made by some doctors should not reflect poorly on Cambodia’s larger healthcare sector.
“I do not agree with someone who said that 90 percent of medical doctors are bad. Only 10 percent of doctors are good, so can the doctors accept this accusation? It seems it is looking down on doctors,” Mr. Hun Sen said, adding that he and other Cambodians received quality care from in-country doctors.
However, in February, the premier traveled to Singapore for his annual health check-up. Mr. Hun Sen argued that his medical treatment in Singapore did not mean medical treatment inside the country was poor.
Nevertheless, during the inauguration of the Sihanouk Province Hospital in February, the premier called on doctors in the country to help improve the healthcare system and educate the next generation to be better health professionals.
“We have to recognize that some of our doctors do not follow the code of conduct and use bad words with patients. Some hospitals, also, put money above the treatment of their patients,” said the premier.
Kourch Mengly, who trained to be a doctor in the US, said earlier this year that nine of 10 doctors in Cambodia were bad, adding they were arrogant and lacked professionalism, compassion, morals and gentleness.
Dr. Richner was appointed by the government to be an advisor to the Ministry of Health in March. He is the founder of the five Kantha Bopha hospitals in Cambodia, which since 1991 have treated nearly 15 million children, according to information on his website. He believes in providing high-quality care in whatever conditions and cost.
“Dr. Richner said each child has only one life, so he decided to provide the best treatment in Cambodia. People thought it was too expensive for Cambodia. Now, after 25 years, many people recognize the quality of what we are doing,” said Dr. Denis Laurent, deputy director of Kantha Bopha hospital in Phnom Penh.
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