Cambodia’s Kantha Bopha Foundation received public donations of more than $16 million in the first half of this year.

The foundation called for more donations to help save the lives of the children it provides vital medical care to in the Kingdom. The five hospitals the foundation operates spend a total of $40 million on their annual operations.

The foundation said on August 4 that donations were made of more than 49 billion riel (over $12 million) and more than $3.9 million directly in US dollars. The donations were mostly made at Kantha Bopha hospitals in Phnom Penh and in Siem Reap.

Despite the public donations, $3.05 million had to be transferred from the foundation to the hospitals to sustain their operations and continue to provide free health services to Cambodian children of high quality and without discrimination.

In June, the foundation received a total of more than 6.97 billion riel ($1.7 million) and more than $1.34 million from 28,780 foundation member donors, the sale of tickets to visitors to Angkor Park and donations from other sources.

With tourism in the Kingdom still relatively low compared to the period prior to the pandemic, one of Kantha Bopha’s major sources of donations – ticket sales at Angkor Park – remain limited relative to past years.

The foundation has therefore also encouraged the public to continue personal donations to the foundation in any amount they can afford or by becoming honorary members with a contribution of 20 million riel per year or supporting members with a 5,000 riel per month or 60,000 riel per year membership “to show solidarity with the spirit of Khmer helping Khmer”.

The public can donate through partner banks such as ABA, ACLEDA, Canadia, Chip Mong, Sathapana, Wing, Vattanac, J Trust Royal, ARDB, Cambodian Public and True Money or find out more information by calling 061 701 111.