Parents bring their kids to Kantha Bopha Children’s Hospital for treatment on June 2. Hong Menea
May of this year saw Kantha Bopha children’s hospital treating more than 18,000 sick children, down by more than 2,000 from their April total.
According to the hospital’s report, in May there were 18,814 sick children who were treated at the outpatient ward – a decrease of 2,464 compared to the 21,278 who were there for treatment in April.
May also had 3,730 seriously ill children hospitalised there, or 920 less than the 4,650 recorded in April.
The report said that 1,114 children underwent surgery in May, which was only three fewer than the 1,117 in April.
The report also noted that 28 heart operations and interventional catheterisations were done at Kantha Bopha children’s hospital in Phnom Penh and Siem Reap, down by 33 from April’s 61.
According to the report, 3,514 pregnant women were examined and treated in the outpatient ward at the Maternity Unit of Jayavarman VII in Siem Reap, a decrease of 1,910 compared to April’s 3,514.
There were also 1,297 children born at the hospital in May – down 125 from the 1,422 in April.
“All treatments are free for all without discrimination,” noted the report.
In an interview with The Post on June 2, Swiss Kantha Bopha Foundation director-general Denis Laurent attributed the decrease to the recent lockdown and inter-provincial travel ban.
He said that at other hospitals, the number of patients was also less than usual because they are afraid of Covid-19 transmission, especially when visiting hospitals.
“Another reason is that we are doing a systematic screening for Covid-19 for new admissions for children and parents, and maybe some parents refused it.
“But we still have a lot of severe cases who are hospitalised, this number is still the same,” Laurent said.
He said for the hospitals, this new situation with Covid-19 presented a great challenge in terms of the safety of patients and staff.
He said the organisation is spending a lot of energy and money to guarantee the safe functioning of the hospitals, but the added pressure and stress had taken a dramatic toll on his staff.
“So it may be that the number of patients is decreasing but our work load is increasing, along with the overall tension,” he said.
Separately on June 1, the Cambodian Red Cross (CRC) secretary-general, Pum Chantyny, provided $1 million to the Cambodian Kantha Bopha Foundation to mark International Children’s Day.
According to the Foundation’s press release, Chantyny said that in addition to the humanitarian activities that the CRC has been implementing during the pandemic, the continued funding they were providing to the Foundation to save the lives of children in Cambodia remained an important priority.
Ros Seilava, Ministry of Economy and Finance secretary of state who is also executive director of the Cambodian Kantha Bopha Foundation, was quoted in the press release as saying that fundraising had been negatively affected by the spread of Covid-19, leading to a decline in the amount of donations received from philanthropists. It had also greatly affected the number of tickets sold to international tourists visiting the Angkor parks.
According to the press release, the CRC had provided an annual contribution of $1 million to the Cambodian Kantha Bopha Foundation since 2018.
They noted that this funding was in addition to another $1 million made by the CRC in direct contributions to the Kantha Bopha Children’s Hospital since 2012.
