Prior to the establishment of Hope Villages in 2007, the group that founded our organisation have provided medical assistance to the residents of Khum Tria. Initial trip in 2004 was an individual effort by Dr Saleha Johari who felt compelled to use her expertise as a medical doctor to see what she can do for the residents there. The response she got was overwhelming.
From this response, it was postulated that the residents wanted desired to receive help in this manner from our team. Dr Saleha to recruited more doctors and nurses to assist her in this endeavour. Since then the medical team trips has been a yearly affair. With each trip the aim was:
a) to provide assistance by way of a simple consultation, some basic medications or advice in setting up a medical post.
b) to evaluate after each trip the actual needs of the villagers
The aid that was provided improved over time and we have provided releif for those in the village who were not able to receive them.
In 2006, the medical team was providing consultation in a dining room of a home and only about 40 patients were seen. We identified that the conditions were not feasable and there had to be changes to the location.
In 2007, the medical team managed to use a school classroom for consultation and we managed to see 87 patients. However we recognise that there was not adequate time as because of time constraints
some patients had to be turned away and there was little order in terms of registration and patient flow.
In 2008, the medical team managed to liase with a contact made previously at the village to allow him to assist us in securing a location and also identifying the patients before hand. Since time was an issue, the medical team along with the others stayed in the village and a total of 170 patients were seen in an orderly manner together with the assistance of medical students who are members of Islamic Medical Association of Cambodia. Medical complaints were mainly psychosomatic related and also sicknesses arising from malnutrition, poor hygiene and polluted drinking water. A patient registration protocol was set up to allow our medical team to track the patients health records during our future visits.
In our overall assessment, we recognised that the villagers were not able to access the healthcare provided by the Cambodian government. There were multiple factors namely distance, cost and attitude of the villagers to healthcare. We recognise that apart from providing medical relief health education also plays a strong part.
As part of our endeavour to provide an efficient system and also to propogate health education, we will be partnering with the Islamic Medical Association of Cambodia (IMAC). This year we recruited some medical students from IMAC and the response and care provided has improved. With the identification of IMAC as a partner we are able to improve the cost effectiveness of our operations. These saving will translate into more frequent medical aid to the village.
With support we hope to elevate the health care of the people of Khum Tria as part of our total assistance to the villagers.
