Phnom Penh: In response to a request from the Royal Government of Cambodia and with a view to strengthening friendly and cooperative relations between Japan and the Kingdom of Cambodia, the Government of Japan has decided to extend its ODA Grant Aid up to the amount of ¥ 4,501,000,000, approximately around USD 41 million for the following 3 projects. The project for Improvement of Referral Hospitals in Siem Reap Province, the project for Human Resource Development Scholarship and the Economic and Social Development Programme.
These projects were exchanged between H.E. Mr. PRAK Sokhonn, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, and H.E. Mr. MIKAMI Masahiro, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Japan to the Kingdom of Cambodia on 5 June 2020 at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation.
Siem Reap Provincial Hospital is a main hospital in northern Cambodia which receives patients, particularly the patients of traffic accidents, from Siem Reap and surrounding provinces. In addition, the lack of equipment and human resources in local health centers in Siem Reap Province cause the patients who should be treated in health centers to seek treatment in the provincial hospital, which results in an overwhelming number of patients. However, due to the deterioration of the facilities constructed in the 1970s and the lack of equipment, it has not been able to provide adequate medical services.
This project aims to improve the facilities and equipment of Siem Reap Provincial Hospital and 4 district referral hospitals in the province, which will result in increasing the annual number of operations at Siem Reap Provincial Hospital from 3,306 in 2018 to 4,732 by 2026 upon completion of the 3-year project. It is expected to strengthen the health system and improve access to basic health and medical services in Siem Reap.
In Cambodia, many talented human resources had been lost due to the civil war that continued for about 20 years since the 1970s, and because of the insufficiency of higher education institutions, the development of high-quality human resources is an urgent issue. Therefore, Japan is supporting Cambodia in further strengthening its economic and social infrastructure, and as part of this cooperation, we help Cambodia’s young government officials to receive degrees (master’s/doctor’s degree) from graduate schools in Japan.
Through this cooperation, a maximum of 26 Cambodian young government officials will be able to study at universities in Japan. It is expected that the human resources under this cooperation will contribute to the future development of Cambodia in each field, and also to the mutual understanding and the building of friendly relations between Japan and Cambodia.
In today’s globalized world, the spread of COVID-19 is a major threat to the economy and society of all countries including Japan. The entire international community must work together against COVID-19.
While the Royal Government of Cambodia is managing the difficult situation in Cambodia, there is a possibility that COVID-19 will start to spread again domestically and regionally due to the vulnerable health system in the country. In order to respond to this crisis, it is important to strengthen the health system to cope with infectious diseases.
In this project, medical equipment such as ambulances, ICU beds etc. will be provided to Cambodia and it is expected to contribute to the prevention of the spread of COVID-19 by strengthening the health systems in the country. Japan will continue to support the countries with vulnerable health systems in collaboration with the international community in order to contain COVID-19 as early as possible.
Photo by: Supplied
