The health center is located at the SOC, and serves 15 patients every week day.
The Health Center

In 2010 following discussion with a visiting doctor, and following requests from the local community, Savong committed to providing a free medical service for the community which is also served by the school. Health, welfare, education - they each go hand in hand, and in this particularly poor district health problems affect families, and in turn these problems hurt the opportunities for education.

Thanks to funding from the Yokohama Womens Club, a small clinic was built as an attachment to the Savong Orphan Centre, and meanwhile a local GP, Dr Sokunthea, kindly agreed to work, 8 days a month at the clinic, serving the community. She took a pay cut to do so: a sign of her own local commitment to a deeper need.

Since then, the clinic served around 50-60 patients a day,  men women and children, with a wide range issues including respiratory ailments, influenzas, as well as quite serious conditions including cancer. (See article on Cambodian Health below.) The clinic cannot treat everyone, and people with more serious conditions are referred to the local hospital. For children, this is not a problem because there is a good overseas-funded children's hospital in town. Savong provides the transport if this is necessary. For adults, hospital involves a cost - so a focus of the health center is to develop preventative health services.

By early 2011  the clinic was at a learning stage and unfortunately it had to close for a few weeks (Dr Sokunthea's husband was very ill) and at the same time the Government introduced registration - which required paperwork to be filed. After a number of weeks closure the Health Centre reopened.

July 2011 - Reopening.

In June 2011 the commitment was made to re-open the Health Center and a limit was set on the number of consultaitons each week day (15) and the budget was set at a modest $750-$800 per month.

  • $350 for the doctor's salary.
  • $100 for the nurse's salary.
  • $300 - running costs including transport, (to pharmacy, taking patients to hospital if required) as well as medicines as prescribed.

At this point steady sponsorships are being sought for this health center which provides the first medical and health care ever available to this poor rural community of 600 families.

The recent very generous gift of a laptop computer loaded with patient record-keeping software is going to make a huge difference to the effectiveness of the Center as it will help the doctor build a picture of the community's health.

For an in-depth article about the Health Center written up in NZ Doctor magazine: CLICK HERE
How you can help

On the right - Robert and Brigitte are two german visitors who kindly donated a laptop loaded with patient-record-keeping software. This followed feedback we received from a visiting doctor who said this aspect of the local GPs work was paper-based, very time consuming and difficult.

There are several ways to assist the work of the ehalth center. Here are some suggestions:

  • Direct support with equipment and medical supplies. Each month the medical centre dispenses medicines and anti-biotics: these all cost.
  • Community health. Mosquito nets, first aid kits, water filters.
  • Establishing an emergency fund.  For serious cases where a patient cannot afford hospital care, an emergency fund would make a real difference.
  • Your time. If you work as a health professional, and you are a doctor, nurse, oral surgeon, opthalmolagist...anything, then your skills are in short supply in Cambodia. Medical volunteers need to show proof of qualification. 
Local Health
Cambodia's health picture is not helped by the general level of poverty. Very few rural homes boast clean water and good sanitation: with two thirds of rural households having neither of these. Meanwhile sickness is not quickly treated with minor conditions having a high risk of worsening. According to Government survey figures some 20% of sicknesses go untreated or the patient seeks remedies at the local market. There are few doctors (1 for every 3,124 according to the Ministry of Health, 2005) and for adults, admission to hospital involves a financial burden that families simply can't wear.
 
The climate and geography of Cambodia give rise to TB and malaria - both a focus of internationally sponsored health iniatives.
 
Recently a Colm Power a volunteer who works full time as a GP in Ireland, had occasion to work alongside the excellent local doctor Sokunthea, and together they treated a typical stream of patients - sharing the workload and learning from each other.
 
Colm noted some of the cases he saw:
 
  • Commonly upper and lower respiratory tract infections e.g.coughs and colds both in adults and children, with a few pneumonias picked up in children. One lady with a recurrence of active tuberculosis.
  • Gastro-intestinal symptoms such as dyspepsia, nausea, bloating. The occasional patient with an enlarged liver suggesting perhaps hepatitis.
  • Lots of patients complained of itchy skin though not necessarily with rashes.
  • Urinary tract symptoms. Some of these patients were just a bit dehydrated.
  • Infections.Not always easy to diagnose without a full lab.
  • Anxiety symptoms such as palpitations, panic feelings, insomnia   Some patients initially denied stress but further questioning revealed stressful experiences such as road traffic accidents as precipitating factors.
  • Lumps and swellings. One lady had an obvious breast cancer. She had found the lump 6 months previously. She said she had no money to go to hospital.
  • Problems of ageing  e.g.  arthritis, hypertension, cardiac problems. Not too many of these as the patient population tended to belong to younger age groups.
  • Ear, nose and throat problems. Ear discharge in 3 children not responding to simple first line antibiotics.
  • Parasitic worm infestation -probably thread worms mostly but maybe some others.
  • Scabies
  • Eye infections, conjunctivitis.

As you can see - a comprehensive list, ranging from the treatable through to cases where hospitalisation is necessary for treatment. The challenge is: how can we best equip Dr Sokunthea to help treat these patients?
Initial funding for the clinic came from Japan and the USA

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