Coming to Phnom Penh from Prey Veng province with little money and a sister in need of medical care, Kong Bunchhoeun had few places to turn for help.
But he found that help Tuesday from a group of visiting South Korean doctors, who operated on his sister at Ang Duong Hospital and removed her goiter—for free.
“I feel very happy because we’ve been to a couple hospitals already, but we were rejected because we did not have enough money for the surgery,” he said.
The group of 34 South Korean doctors, dentists and nurses is here for a weeklong visit to give free medical care and medicine to Cambodia’s poor. The group is part of the Saemoonan Medical Service mission team in Seoul, which is related to the Saemoonan Christian Church there. The team often travels to developing countries like Cambodia to provide medical care that is difficult to obtain by the poor.
“They are here to help the Cambodian people, because the people really need this kind of service,” said Reverend Suh Byeong Do, a South Korean who works in Phnom Penh and helped bring the mission team here.
On Tuesday, the team treated several hundred patients at Ang Duong Hospital in Phnom Penh, which is considered to be one of the poorest hospitals in the city, said Seo Cheol Wook, who is part of the mission team.
Doctors mostly performed ear, eye, nose and cataract surgery, while dentists treated patients in a crowded room. The team also provided free medicine in a makeshift pharmacy set up outside the hospital.
On Wednesday, the team did similar work in hospitals in Kandal’s Takhmau and Kien Svay districts. Today the group is scheduled to travel to a hospital in Neak Luong town in Prey Veng province.
Doctors said they expected to treat more than 1,000 patients before they were scheduled to leave Saturday.
