US-Cambodian Doctors Make Trip To Phnom Penh

Friday, 24 December 2010
Men Kimseng, VOA Khmer | Washington, DC

Photo: AP A Cambodian doctor checks blood pressure of survivors of November 22's stampede at Preah Kossamak Hospital in Phnom Penh.

A group of US medical volunteers will travel to Cambodia next week to provide free medical care for Cambodians.

Tan Song, a doctor and president of the Cambodian Health Professionals Association, based in Long Beach, said more than 50 medical doctors and assistants will be working from Jan. 3 to Jan. 7 at a health centre outside of Phnom Penh.

“We will treat all Cambodians without discrimination,” Tan Song told VOA Khmer ahead of the trip. The service provided includes dental care and out-patient treatment.

“For serious illnesses, we will have to refer them to the hospital,” he said.

Tan Song, who survived the Khmer Rouge in Takeo province before moving to the US, said he wants to give something back to his native country.

“I believe that both medical doctors and charitable contributors are showing their great affection toward their country,” Cambodia’s ambassador to the US, Hem Heng, said. “This is testimony to the solidarity between Cambodians overseas and in the country.”