Thanks to the persistence of the initiator Dr. Chea Touch, PhD and the idealism of her co-workers, the Diabetes day clinic was able to take up work in Phnom Penh, Cambodia in May 2002.
A sign at the entrance and the successful medical practice had let the number of patients grow to over 100 by the end of July. This trend is growing. In September, we counted 160 patients, and soon the number of new patients since the beginning will have doubled.
Taking the blood sugar is done by help of urine samples. In order to aid the exact blood measurements, the Clinic has received donations from Korea, Germany and Belgium. These donations provided the clinic with measurement devices that commonly prescribed for home use in developed countries.
Thanks to generous donations of medications from the named countries the treatment
of the majority of patients was free of charge.
In order to meet inevitable costs of sundries (office and treatment materials)
a charge is raised for blood sugar and blood pressure measurements,
as for medications for the treatment of sequelae.
Those patients that cannot afford to pay for these
costs are being treated completely free of charge.The waiting room of the clinic hosts 15 chairs. It is not seldom that more patients than that are waiting for their treatment. They have to stand or wait – as custom in Asia – cowering.
In July the clinic received their first donation of €3000,-. This enabled to pay a salary of €200,- per month for a year for an assistant doctor to work parallel to the initiator, and further helped to purchase two used refrigerators for storage of medications. In the tropical climate of Cambodia cooling is essential. Two further doctors and medical assistants are currently working without pay.
The patients’ examination, consultation and registration is done in a small room
which is fitted with a couch, a table, a small cupboard and 5 chairs.
Most times, there are three patients at a time in the room.
As it is not custom in Asia to take off all clothes for the auscultation,
there is no need for movable walls.
Because of the lack of space, rebuilding the diabetes clinic is of vital importance.
There already is an optimal, free building site at the rim of the hospital complex
with direct road access.
The only condition: it has to be build as soon as possible.
The pre-determined costs for one story so far account to about $6,000,- to $8,000,-.The main task of the aid project Cambodian Diabetes Clinic is to support the building of the new diabetes hospital in Phnom Penh, as well as paying hospital staff and buying a Electrocardiogram (ECG).
The association, by means of – especially monetary – donations, hopes that the started way full of hope can raise fast, just as the number of patients does!