ANGKOR HOSPITAL FOR CHILDREN

ANGKOR H O SP I TA L F O R C H I L D R EN

Cambodia’s leading children’s hospital www.angkorhospital.org

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Angkor Hospital for Children exists as a centre for excellence in paediatric healthcare that provides much needed quality medical care to Cambodians in need Writer: Emily Jarvis Project Manager: Eddie Clinton upported by donors in Asia, Australia, Europe and North America, Angkor Hospital for Children (AHC) is an independent, non-profit medical facility that is committed to providing quality healthcare to impoverished children in the Siem Reap area of Cambodia. The hospital works in close collaboration with the Ministry of Health and has done so since its founding 16 years ago. AHC’s Hospital Director, Dr. Ngoun Chan Pheaktra urges people to visit the hospital to learn about the hospital care it provides to impoverished Cambodians, and provide their support: “We receive funding from all around the globe and due to this ongoing support, we continue to deliver high quality medical care to children affected by disease and poverty in the country.”

Recognised as Cambodia’s first teaching hospital, AHC first opened its doors in 1999 after Japanese-born

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Treatment, Education, Prevention who have travelled long Kenro Izu, identified the lack distances to get to the of accessible healthcare for poor children. “Mr Izu had facility,” cites Dr. Pheaktra.

AHC provides these a vision to do something services because travel for Cambodian children and associated costs can and greatly supported the often prevent families from hospital in the early days. He seeking medical attention. established the non-profit Over time, AHC has organisation ‘Friends Without evolved from a simple a Border’ in 1996 and after outpatient department gaining the support of 6,000 Dr. Pheaktra, to a fully-fledged hospital health care professionals Acting Executive offering specialist services around the world, Angkor Director of AHC including: Neo-natal Hospital for Children was care, physiotherapy, inpatient and born. Since we opened, the Hospital outpatient clinics, A&E, intensive care, has witnessed immense growth from 7,000 patients a year, to treating more operating theatre providing a range of surgical procedures, and more. This than 160,000 in 2014.” year, a much needed renovation of the AHC has provided more than one emergency and intensive care units will million medical treatments to date, reach completion, in turn expanding educating thousands of Cambodian the hospital’s capacity. health workers and hundreds of families in disease prevention along Securing the right people the way. “Our services are free; we AHC is more than just a hospital and reimburse travel costs, provide food also exists as a Centre of Excellence and areas to stay overnight for those

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The hospital’s guiding principal is to provide quality care to those living in poverty

for the training of Cambodian doctors and nurses in the hospital and beyond.

As a non-profit organisation, however, it is sometimes a challenge to find the required skills within the country. “We need volunteers from overseas with expertise in specialist areas that will help us build the knowledge and skills of our own doctors and nurses.

Patient transfer to emergency room

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Only 10 percent of patients now wait more than three hours to be seen, which is an impressive achievement for the busiest unit of the hospital

“Providing high quality care means high quality staff and we have the right programmes in place to provide coaching and build capacity in the medical community as a whole,” Dr. Pheaktra explains.

Beyond providing training for its own medical staff, the hospital works with other provincial hospitals to expand their own knowledge of quality care.

“Our guiding principal is to provide quality care to those living in poverty.

We work with the Ministry of Health to strengthen Cambodia’s healthcare system through the training of doctors, nurses and health workers to play a central role in improving public health for all children,” Dr. Pheaktra says, adding that staff take every step possible to help both sick children and their respective families.

Empowering locals

Early 2014 saw the opening of

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Providing hope as well as treatments

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AHC’s newly renovated outpatient department. Through generous funding from many donors, the Hospital was able to increase its capacity to treat patients and reduce waiting times. The new and now separate ICU and emergency units were completed in April 2015, which have been designed to improve patient privacy, capacity and quality of care.

Since 2010, Angkor Hospital for Children has reached out to rural communities via its Satellite Clinic (SC) which has outpatient, inpatient and emergency rooms and sees more than 50 children a day. “We strive to provide quality healthcare services to the rural population while strengthening the government healthcare system. By coordinating with local health centres at a community level, we hope to further replicate this model where a healthcare structure does exist, but needs improvement,” highlights Dr Pheaktra.

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1out of 77

children die before their fifth birthday

US$615

Cambodian gross national income per person

28%

Portion of the population living below the poverty line

4.2%

Angkor staff build strong rapports with patients

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Adults (25+) completing high school

Clinics such as this one are also useful in educating families in disease.

For example, HIV positive children are taught to educate their communities about the disease as Dr Pheaktra further explains: “We hope that by empowering children to be their own advocate, local people will become well-informed of the risks. Our plan is to expand this programme going forward.”

The goal for Angkor Hospital for Children this year is to consolidate its activities and maintain a stable outlook. “This year is about building a strong foundation from which to grow, accompanied by securing further funding going into 2016 to ensure we can continue to run our existing activities. We are committed to ensuring the Hospital has the fundamentals needed to continue offering much needed quality healthcare long into the future,” concludes Dr Pheaktra.

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ANGKOR HOSPITAL FOR CHILDREN Tep Vong & Um Chhay Street Mondul 1 Svay Dangkum Siem Reap Cambodia Tel: +855 63 963409 Fax: +855 63 760452 Email: ahc@angkorhospital.org

www.angkorhospital.org