Healthcare Expedites Journey from the East

Worship of an alleged magic tree trunk in Pursat province (Photo: RFA)

CAMBODIA500
Op-Ed by Ung Bun Ang

Whether defects in the provision of Cambodian healthcare are by government design or incompetence, they could not be better scripted to help make Vietnam’s journey westwards as smooth as silk.

Ridicule that currently does the round in Cambodia is that, for medical treatment, the filthy rich goes to Singapore; the rich to Thailand; the thrifty to Vietnam; and the poor stays home. Local medical facilities are so inadequate that the poor turns to anything – including supernatural powers – for relief. The latest craze is a rush to worship a 13-metre-long log unearthed from the bottom of a pound in Pursat. The pound’s muddy water is believed to be so “sacred” people travelling across the country to drink it as medicine for curing their illnesses. Even the district police chief and district governor make offerings to the log.

But for the majority of those who can afford not to risk their life and health with local hospitals, Vietnam is the destination. Prime minister Hun Sen said two years ago that there were at the time about 250 Cambodians travelling to Vietnam everyday for medical treatment. Somehow, it is a kind of life-saving operation that Vietnam carries out for Cambodians, similar to the one they claim to do and finish in January 1979 that earns Vietnam an eternal gratitude from the survivors.

If Vietnam has a long term plan to assimilate Cambodians into its expanding society, one of the brilliant strategic moves will be to bring its healthcare facilities to Cambodia. In fact, Vietnam’s Choray Hospital is scheduled to open its brand new branch with 200 beds in Phnom Penh this year. Hun Sen says this will reduce the number of travelling patients to Vietnam, and hence the costs. He claims this hospital was his initiative about twelve years ago.

Furthermore, Vietnam has just opened a hospital in Sihanoukville to provide healthcare free of charge to Vietnamese residents in Cambodia and local poor. The Sihanoukville governor regards the hospital as a Vietnam’s investment and a promotion of Cambodia and Vietnam friendship.

Thus, Cambodians will have access to some decent healthcare at affordable cost with Vietnam at the helm. It is hard to imagine there could be a more subtle and effective way to win the Cambodian hearts and minds, when their government healthcare is kept substandard and ineffectual.

Meanwhile, Cambodian government leaders and their Personal Interest Groups continue to seek medical care abroad for themselves, pushing their citizens and public affinity into the embracing arms of Vietnam. Like the impact of the 7 January intervention, there will be Cambodians standing ready to appreciate and protect Vietnam’s interest and healthcare effort. And again, the prime minister must be proud of having brought Vietnam into the country for another rescue mission – this time in healthcare that he seems not competent enough to directly take on the responsibility. Either that, or he just does his best to bring Cambodia closer to Vietnam, without a concern that if they are any closer, both countries will be one.

Ung Bun Ang

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