HCM City doctors provide care in Cambodia

KAMPONG SPEU — Nearly 3,000 Cambodian people living in Cambodia's Kampong Speu and Kampong Chnang provinces received free healthcare during a charity programme run by volunteers from the HCM City Young Doctors' Association and HCM City Medicine and Pharmacy University.

The programme is part of this year's international volunteer programme organised by the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union and its partners to provide medical treatment for local residents, especially women and children.

Fifty volunteers, including young doctors from leading HCM City hospitals like Cho Ray, raised funds and procured medical supplies worth over VND500 million (US$25,000) from donors before undertaking their trip to Cambodia last week.

"We provided consulting services and treatment to poor people in Kampong Speu and Chnang provinces," said Nguyen Van Dan, a member of the HCM City young Doctors' Association.

Dan said his group travelled to remote villages like No To Ru, Bo Ri Po and Kpong Chnang located on the shores of the Tonle Sap Lake in Kapong Chnang Province, which is home to many Vietnamese-Cambodian people.

The doctors even brought mobile clinics equipped with X-Ray machines to provide quality treatment.

"Our volunteers gained valuable experience while helping others," said 25-year-old Dan, adding that he and his friends also learnt new things about local people's culture and lifestyle.

Lay Sapang, a Cambodian National Assembly deputy, said the volunteer doctors, who had both ability and experience, spent several days working with residents in isolated villages and helping them apply simple treatment methods in their daily life.

"Through their work here, they [the volunteer doctors] are playing a role in improving the long-term relationship between Viet Nam and Cambodia," he said.