Prime Minister Hun Sen said Tuesday that he requires surgery to treat a carbuncle on his foot.
Hun Sen said that walking through floodwater during an inspection tour of an inundated Kampot town Aug 16 aggravated the carbuncle—a painful and potentially serious skin infection.
The prime minister said that he has been ignoring his doctor’s request to have the surgery for over two weeks and will continue to delay the operation so he can attend a Sept 8 meeting in Finland.
“The prime minister must trust his [Khmer] doctors,” he said, adding that he plans to have the carbuncle surgery at Calmette Hospital and not abroad. “If we rely on foreign doctors, we will die soon,” he added. The prime minister did not say what the meeting in Finland was about, but the Ministry of Information stated that it was an Asean function.
Heng Taikry, Ministry of Health secretary of state and personal doctor to the Hun Sen, said the carbuncle does not seriously threaten the prime minister’s health.
Even so, CPP lawmaker Cheam Yeap said that he is concerned about the prime minister’s well-being and urged that he receive treatment in Finland. He also said that the prime minister’s health is weakening because he is so dedicated to his work. “His effort has no limit,” Cheam Yeap said. “He must think of his own health.”
Heng Taikry added that Hun Sen and his family always come to Phnom Penh’s Calmette for medical treatment. “Prime Minister Hun Sen initiated the hospital,” he said. “He trusts the hospital.”
