When the
Cambodia National Assembly passed the 2016 national budget last December
Cambodia’s public health system was not high on the list for additional
resources, receiving a meager 8 per cent increase from the year prior, or $275
million. Admirably education received a boost of 28 per cent of the $4.3
billion budget, or $502 million, while the defence budget rose 17.3 per cent to
$382 million.
With
Cambodia healthcare spending amounting to about $18 per person, per year,
Cambodians feel hopeless when dealing with Cambodia’s public health system. The
service delivery is viewed bad by both rich and poor in the country, with only
8,502 licenced health-service providers, and more than 3,900 illegal healthcare
practitioners.
As a
consequence, when people face health problems most rich people turn to private
rather than public hospitals in the hope of better service, despite having to
spend more. Some even cross the border to find better service and doctors for
treatment; Vietnam and Thailand being the two most popular.
However,
for poor people unable to access private hospital they have no choice but to
seek treatment through Cambodia’s public health system. Others in remote areas
such as Battambang Province’s Roka commune even turn to unlicenced doctors
instead for treatment due to the lack of confidence in local Cambodia public
health services.
Roka
Villager Mao Sophan said: “The health centre is no good. They give paracetamol
for everything. If you want something else, they say ‘No’.”
The poor
standard of healthcare available to Cambodians was highlighted globally in 2014
when a sole unlicenced ‘doctor’ in the commune infected 300 villagers ranging
from infants to the elderly with HIV through the re-use of needles. This
malpractice left 14 villagers dead and the rest of the community in fear.
In
response the Cambodian government announced a ban on unlicensed doctors
throughout the country and ongoing raids by the Cambodia Ministry of Health
(MoH) have seen many closed down.
However,
with just one qualified doctor for every 5,000 people unlicenced medical
practitioners continue to play a vital role in filling the gaps in the
under-funded and resource stretched Cambodia public health services system.
In this
documentary by Aljazeera English 101 East, Steve Chao examines the role of
unlicenced medical practitioners in propping up Cambodia’s public health
services system.
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