Posts
On our first trip by tuk tuk {open cart pulled by motorbike} with our wonderful driver, Phana, to the major Angor Wat complex, just two blocks down the road from our hotel was a crowd of Cambodian people on both sides of the road; they formed a long, long line into the Kantha Bopha Children's Hospital and they were all carrying babies and small children. They were obviously poor and in distress and it haunted our visit to the ruins that day. We had noticed a huge sign in front of the Hospital advertizing a free music concert on Saturday night where "Dr. Beat" would play Cello and donations would be accepted for the Hospital. Our evening with Dr. Beat Richner would be the most enlightening evening of our trip so far. The new, modern hall at the Hospital had a full audience of tourists from all over the world... and Dr. Richner played his cello for us and gave us a lot to think about. He showed a film about his work here in Cambodia that enlightened us all. He was here as a Swiss Pediatrician in 1975 and had to leave because of the horrifying civil war/reign of terror by the Red Khmer. In 1992 he was able to return and started a private, free for all, Childrens Hospital in Phnom Phen, the capital. Since then he has grown his venture into 5 Children's Hospitals in Cambodia.
He has saved 8 million children in the last 15 years.
Training thousands of nurses and Doctors, paying them all a "proper" wage, fundraising, and creating hospitals that have every state of the art medical equipment and expertise for each little patient, he gave us some of his thoughts.
His point is that war will not end until there is justice and there will be no justice with corruption.
His hospitals are the only corruption free infrastructure in Cambodia.
He has trained thousands of nurses and doctors to Western medical standards, pays them a proper wage, pays all the staff including the cleaners, a proper wage...... the drugs are free to the families. There is no motivation to be corrupt as in so many of the other medical facilities in SE Asia.
His work is funded 10% by the Swiss government and 90% private donations.
His staff is trained to keep the mother always with the baby or child (he explained that the T cells needed for healing drop when the mother is not with the child), they keep records on every patient and give them all complete instructions about using the free medications which they must keep coming back to receive so that the Dr.'s know the patient is keeping up with the medical regime. The families keep the laminated ID cards in their homes in an honored place.
65% of the people here have TB, there was a Dengue fever epidemic last year, they have terrible traffic accidents and children fall into cooking fires. He has Western standards for everything, but even better, really, because no one is turned away. His death rate is better than for many Western hospitals.
He told us that the World Health Organization officials visited and stayed in a $340/night hotel room nearby and then told him that he is spending too much per patient and they could not justify supporting his work. He spends a total average of between $200 and $300 per child!!!
He feels he has proved that there is no excuse for planning sub standard health care for children into any organization's budget when he can achieve so much alone... we think he is right.
Phana, our 27 year old tuk tuk driver who has two little children and supports his entire family,
smilingly picked us up afterwards; he wanted to give us a FREE ride home!! We asked him if he went to the Childrens Hospital and he smiled and said Yes, he was taken there himself when young and his children go there, too. Denise is right that we came on our trip to look at places but it is the people that make this trip so very memorable.
He has saved 8 million children in the last 15 years.
Training thousands of nurses and Doctors, paying them all a "proper" wage, fundraising, and creating hospitals that have every state of the art medical equipment and expertise for each little patient, he gave us some of his thoughts.
His point is that war will not end until there is justice and there will be no justice with corruption.
His hospitals are the only corruption free infrastructure in Cambodia.
He has trained thousands of nurses and doctors to Western medical standards, pays them a proper wage, pays all the staff including the cleaners, a proper wage...... the drugs are free to the families. There is no motivation to be corrupt as in so many of the other medical facilities in SE Asia.
His work is funded 10% by the Swiss government and 90% private donations.
His staff is trained to keep the mother always with the baby or child (he explained that the T cells needed for healing drop when the mother is not with the child), they keep records on every patient and give them all complete instructions about using the free medications which they must keep coming back to receive so that the Dr.'s know the patient is keeping up with the medical regime. The families keep the laminated ID cards in their homes in an honored place.
65% of the people here have TB, there was a Dengue fever epidemic last year, they have terrible traffic accidents and children fall into cooking fires. He has Western standards for everything, but even better, really, because no one is turned away. His death rate is better than for many Western hospitals.
He told us that the World Health Organization officials visited and stayed in a $340/night hotel room nearby and then told him that he is spending too much per patient and they could not justify supporting his work. He spends a total average of between $200 and $300 per child!!!
He feels he has proved that there is no excuse for planning sub standard health care for children into any organization's budget when he can achieve so much alone... we think he is right.
Phana, our 27 year old tuk tuk driver who has two little children and supports his entire family,
smilingly picked us up afterwards; he wanted to give us a FREE ride home!! We asked him if he went to the Childrens Hospital and he smiled and said Yes, he was taken there himself when young and his children go there, too. Denise is right that we came on our trip to look at places but it is the people that make this trip so very memorable.
No comments:
Post a Comment