SRP MPs discuss healthcare issues with Kratie and Stung Treng commune councilors

SRP MPs Long Ry (left), Son Chhay (center) and Men Sothaverin (right) discuss health care issues with commune councilors from Kratie and Stung Treng provinces on August 7 in Kratie. Around 100 councilors took part in the discussions where many abuses in public hospitals and health center were uncovered.

A policy on free health care will be drawn up by the SRP before coming elections.

A SRP commune councilor spoke during the workshop

Son Chhay

Concern Grows Over Women’s Health, Equality

A Cambodian woman kisses her baby while walking through the slum village in Phnom Penh.(Photo: AP)

Chun Sakada, VOA Khmer
Phnom Penh Thursday, 06 May 2010

"Cambodian women still face problems of domestic violence, rape and trafficking."

Lawmakers and health officials from the UN are meeting Friday over the country’s progress on maternal mortality and gender equality, as concern grows that Cambodia is failing to meet its development goals and is in some cases losing ground.

“The maternal mortality rate is still at a high level, and it hasn’t fallen like the Cambodian government wants,” Ping Chutema, director of the Reproductive Health Association of Cambodia, told VOA Khmer on Thursday. “It is a very serious problem.”

Cambodia has so-called millennium development goals, which include lowering the rates of mothers who die in childbirth and improving gender equality, among others.

But Ping Chutema said for maternal mortality, the country is going in the wrong direction.

“In 2000, 437 women died in childbirth among 100,000; 472 died in 2005,” she said. “Our maternal mortality is still high, and our gender equality and empowerment of women is not yet equal. We have not reached the millennium development goals.”

Cambodian women still face problems of domestic violence, rape and trafficking, said Say Saravathany, director of the Cambodian Women’s Crisis Center, which took in more than 1,400 women in 2009.

“It affects a woman’s health in both body and feeling,” she said. “The majority of women suffer from domestic violence. They have no energy or heart to join in social development, and they are not brave enough to become leaders.”

And while the government does have an official policy to promote the rights and health of women, “it has not worked to implement it,” Ros Sopheap, director of Gender and Development for Cambodia, said. “Women have the right to participate in decision-making at sub-national and national levels, but there is not gender equity.”

“If we compare gender equality and empowerment of women over the past 10 years, now there are steps forward,” she said. “But a step forward is still not reaching the level of equality.”

Mu Sochua, a lawmaker for the opposition Sam Rainsy Party and former minister of women’s affairs, said there is time to reach the development goals, but the government needs to boost the national budget and prioritize education and health.

“Women’s decision-making in the community, or at sub-national and national levels is still very limited,” she said. “The millennium development goals remain far from the wishes of our Cambodians.”

Cheam Yiep, a lawmaker for the ruling Cambodian People’s Party, said Friday’s discussions will provide various theories and ideas on how the government can fulfill its development goals.

Healthcare a Ready Target for Parties

Parties hope the poor healthcare system, especially in rural areas, will take votes away from the ruling party.

By Seng Ratana, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
25 June 2008

Click here to listen to the Khmer audio program

[Editor's note: In the weeks leading into national polls, VOA Khmer will explore a wide number of election issues. The "Election Issues 2008" series will air stories on Tuesday and Wednesday, followed by a related "Hello VOA" guest on Thursday. This is the second in a two-part series examining the state of Cambodian health care.]

As the country heads into a campaign period, competing parties have found an easy target as they search for failings in the current administration: a weak healthcare system they call unethical and corrupt.

Government health officials say they are improving the ethics and practices of the nation's doctors step by step, but competing parties are using the rural hospitals, which are often rundown, and underpaid doctors, to build campaign platforms against the ruling party.

Cambodian People's Party lawmaker Chiem Yeap said the party has run the government for 30 years and is working to improve the healthcare field, especially in rural areas. Already, a policy of free vaccinations and other treatments is in place, he said.

Other parties, however, say that in practice, there is no free health care, as individual doctors ask for money from their patients. And with a one-month campaign period that begins Thursday, they will seek to convince voters they have the best new policies for the ailing healthcare system.

Doctors in the provinces have no ethics, hospitals are old and unsanitary and some doctors act as though they can cure the ills of everyone, from children to the elderly, said Muth Chantha, spokesman for the Norodom Ranariddh Party.

The NRP has several strategies prepared to fix the health system, including the reform of Cambodia's code of ethics, more money for doctors, improved technical tools for clinics and hospitals, and a larger budget for the Ministry of Health. The party would also like to see true, free healthcare for the nation's poor, he said.

Free treatment for the poor and a larger budget for the health sector are on the platform of the opposition Sam Rainsy Party.

"Public hospitals are full of corruption and have no professional ethics," party leader Sam Rainsy said.

Seng Sokheng, secretary-general of the Hang Dara Democratic Movement Party, said the party the party "will eliminate all problems where people meet difficulties," he said.

The party does not want people to fear the hospitals, he said, and would seek to bring the lowest cost of medicine to people, following the example of Thailand.

"Now not only the poor, but the rich have no confidence in the health system of Cambodia," said Ban Sophal, president of the Society of Justice Party, which he said would seek to provide modern tools and better hospital buildings to healthcare workers.

"I will not let people die because they have no money to go to the hospital," he said. "My party will be responsible on this."

Another gov't false promise: Better healthcare next mandate

Better Health Care, Next Mandate: Minister

By Seng Ratana, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
24 June 2008

[Editor's note: In the weeks leading into national polls, VOA Khmer will explore a wide number of election issues. The "Election Issues 2008" series will air stories on Tuesday and Wednesday, followed by a related "Hello VOA" guest on Thursday. This is the first in a two-part series examining the state of Cambodian health care.]

Cambodia's health system remains poor, but in the time since the last general election, the government has worked hard to improve it and hopes to do more in the next term, the nation's top health official said.

Health Minister Nuth Sokhum, a member of the coalition Funcinpec party, said the government was working hard to fix the problems in the health system, building 40 health care centers around Cambodia since the last election and providing additional training to doctors on professional ethics.

The government hoped to do more in the next term, he said, especially to take better care of women and child health issues, he said.

Cambodians in rural areas like Kampong Thom province are not happy with the health care they see at the district level. One mother told VOA Khmer the local doctor gave her son an injection without informing her, then impolitely demanded money.

John Saroeun, who works for the health NGO Maristop in the province, said many rural citizens face the same difficulties. Doctors come late for work, leave for an early lunch and take the rest of the day off, he said.

Many people have lost faith in the health care system. Even though doctors have the ability to do their jobs, they are not paid well, forcing them to resort to corruption, Saroeun said.

Despite government promises to improve the situation, competing parties are looking for ways to exploit these health care woes as the election approaches.