Facility to bring competent health care to Cambodia's southern coastal region, where there is little hope in medical emergencies
HENG CHIVOAN
The Sonja Kill Memorial Children’s Hospital in Kampot is scheduled to open next June. The Sonja Kill Memorial Children's Hospital is 80 percent constructed and should be open by next June, according to the governor of Kampot, Thach Korn, who said the modern facility would be a major boost to the entire southern coastal region's health care services.
The bill - around US$8 million for the facilities and $6 million for medical equipment - has been footed by Winfried Kill, a retired doctor , according to Yos Phanita, the vice director of Phnom Penh's Cambodian-Russian Friendship Hospital who is also a representative of the Sonja Kill Foundation Cambodia.
The hospital, situated near the base of Bokor Mountain, is being constructed on seven hectares of land provided by the government.
Its 38 buildings - 26 for patients and the rest for house staff - will include 124 patient beds plus surgery facilities and a maternity ward. Construction started in March 2007, he said.
The facility will require a staff of around 140, including doctors, nurses and custodians, he said, adding that as many as 20 foreign doctors would be brought in.
"The purpose is to meet the high demand of healthcare for children and women," he said. Cambodia's maternal mortality rate has for the past five years hovered at around 472 deaths per 100,000 live births - the highest in the region, according to the Ministry of Health.
Free service
Yos Phanita said the hospital's services would be free of charge and of the highest quality possible.
"[We] built the hospital in the south of Kampot because there isn't a major hospital there yet. It will be very good for people living around the southern coast because they will not have to go to Phnom Penh anymore."
But he added that the new facility would not be enough to fill the gap in health care provision to all children and mothers in the region. "They need three times more than this."
Some 85 percent of Cambodia's people live in rural areas, but most hospitals and health personnel are in urban areas. Pen Por, who lives near the Sonja Kill Hospital, said that when his children had serious health problems in the past he and his wife were forced to make the three-hour trip to Phnom Penh and even travelled to Vietnam in a couple of cases. "But now I don't think these trips will be necessary any more," he said.
Sin Somuny, executive director of the healthcare NGO MEDICAM, said, "a hospital with those kinds of resources really makes a difference" and is "especially important in the countryside".
60,000 hectares of land ceded to private company for rubber
The PM has signed off on the deal for K Thom and Kratie, which is part of the government's vast 'economic land concession' scheme
LAND ON ITS HANDS
The government signed contracts with 90 private companies between 1992 and August 2007, ceding 1.178 million hectares of land in 16 provinces. Of these, 37 contracts have been cancelled, with 300,000 hectares reclaimed.
The letter, dated July 10 and signed by the prime minister, outlined the government's plan to transfer control of 58,658 hectares of forest to the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries for its Economic Land Concession program.
The identity of the private company expected to invest in the land has not been revealed, but Kampong Thom Governor Nam Tum said he has received a development proposal from the Thimas Resources Co, which hopes to invest in the land bordering Kratie province.
"We have not yet discussed details of the investment plan with the company," Nam Tum told the Post Thursday. "I'm not sure whether it is a local or foreign company, but they want to invest in rubber production."
Nam Tum said provincial authorities have more than 200,000 hectares of land reserved for concessions to private business owners. Some 66,000 hectares have already been offered to companies producing rubber, cashews and acacia trees, and employing more than 2,000 local residents.
Ny Chakrya, head of monitoring for the human rights group Adhoc, expressed concern that recipients of land concessions will try to steal additional land from local farmers.
People living near the development areas always suffer from such projects.
He said many residents have already tried to protest unlawful land seizures by companies but that local and military police have threatened or assaulted them on behalf of the companies.
Problems for residents
"Past experience shows that people living near the development areas always suffer from such projects," Ny Chakrya said. "Before concessions are given, the government should evaluate the impact on local residents and clearly demarcate the area given to the companies."
An agriculture ministry official, who asked to remain anonymous because he was not authorised to speak to the press, said seven companies have received concessions in Kratie province, while four others have received concessions in Kampong Thom.
"Any company that does not follow the terms of their contract will lose their concession and the land will be reserved for social concessions [to benefit local residents]," the official said.
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