Officials in Cambodia and Thailand have inked an agreement to open a new border crossing that will help speed up the transfer of patients seeking emergency treatment.

The new checkpoint is scheduled to open in November.

Officials from Banteay Meanchey province and their counterparts across the Thai border in Sa Kaeo province agreed on the development of the patient transportation border cross system in Prey Chan village in O’Chrou district on the Cambodian side of the border, according to a statement from the Thursday meeting. A committee under the guidance of the governors in Banteay Meanchey and Sa Kaeo provinces will determine how to accelerate the patient transport.

Dr Keo Sopheaktra, director of the Banteay Meanchey Provincial Health Department, said patients currently are transferred into another ambulance at the border. While Cambodian officials have asked Thailand to allow Cambodian ambulances to go directly to hospitals on the Thai side, those requests had been rejected.

Representatives of the Thai government did not respond to requests for comment.