The Ministry of Health has instructed medical professionals to improve their abilities and abide by their code of ethics to stymie ongoing complaints, specifically being rude to patients.
The ministry’s central committee issued the order on Tuesday during its annual review and outlook meeting in the capital, where 50 doctors were also present.
Ministry spokesman Or Vandine said in the past, some doctors failed to follow their code of ethics and drew criticism, leading to the public generalising the sector as a whole.
“Thus, in order to stop more complaints from the public, all medical professionals must strengthen their abilities and improve their management of nurses, especially in regards to ethics.
“We must all come together to change the attitudes of those working in the industry who have bad attitudes and make patients feel unwelcome,” she said.
She noted that Prime Minister Hun Sen approved a sub-decree for a code of ethics which stipulated that the central committee must ensure all medical professions follow it.
“When they register with the committee, we need to check whether they already understand the code as stated in the sub-decree. It states clearly that those who register must show that they had read the sub-decree and pledged to follow it,” she said.
The Law on the Management of Health Professionals details punishments such as warnings, suspensions or simply removing their names from the list of medical professionals.
Board of Nursing of Cambodia president, Un San, who governs more than 20,000 nurses in the private and public sectors across the Kingdom, said on Thursday he accepted that some did not fully follow the code.
“We must strengthen our code of ethics so people get good, quality and safe services,” he said.
