A clinic claiming to cure cancer, diabetes and other serious illnesses through “detoxification” is operating without a license, five months after it opened illegally in Phnom Penh.
The Immanuel Bicom True Healing Center in Chamkar Mon district came under scrutiny shortly after opening in early December when the municipal health department found that it was treating patients without a license.
However, the clinic is still operating improperly and does not yet have a license from the Ministry of Health, the director of the ministry’s department of health, Saing Sary, said Wednesday.
“We have asked them to stop their business temporarily and to not treat any more patients until they have received a license from the Ministry of Health,” he said.
In December, Mr. Sary and other health officials said they would shut down the clinic immediately.
The clinic claims to cure illnesses such as cancer and diabetes through a “detox” treatment that targets the body as well as the air, food and water that patients consume. Helena Kun Lim, the clinic’s owner, could not be reached for comment Wednesday.
“The last time we went [to the clinic], they said that they were still in the process of making the documents to ask for a license from the Ministry of Health despite the fact that they cannot be open for business without a license,” Sok Sokun, director of the municipal health department, said Wednesday.
“In Phnom Penh, there are more than 2,000 clinics, so we couldn’t go and stop [the clinic] sooner because first we had to ask the owners to give us their documents and license issued by the Ministry of Health,” Mr. Sokun added.
Thir Kruy, undersecretary of state at the Ministry of Health, said that even if the application for a license was still being reviewed, it was illegal for the clinic to operate in the meantime.
