Phnom Penh: Tuesday, 8th of October 2019 The Signing Ceremony of Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the Ministry of Health of the Kingdom of Cambodia and GX Foundation and during on the MOU H.E. Prof. Mam Bunheng, Minister of Health of the Kingdom of Cambodia said, “It is my great honours and pleasure to have an opportunity to sign the Memorandum of Understanding on the Cataract Blindness Eradication Project today. On behalf of the Ministry of Health of the Kingdom of Cambodia, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Your Honourable Mr. LEUNG CHUN-YING, Chairman of the Belt and Road Hong Kong Centre Company Limited and Chairman of GX Foundation, Hong Kong Special Administration Region of the People’s Republic of China for hosting this important event.”

He adds more “Belt and Road Initiative on Health is a new milestone in international health cooperation. As Cambodia is a country in the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership of Cooperation with The People’s Republic of China, We hope that Cambodia will benefit from the above initiative. Therefore, I strongly believe that signing the Memorandum of Understanding on Cataract Blindness Eradication Project to-day, will bring public and private sectors, and academia from both countries, China and Cambodia, to work closely together to eradicate cataract blindness in Prey Veng Province and eventually in the whole Cambodia in the near future”. 

National Program for Eye Health (NPEH) in Cambodia was established in 1995. Eye health has been identified as a public health concerns and is considered as one of the health priorities in Cambodia. Recently, Cambodia has reached a major achievement by eliminating Trachoma as a public health threat. This achievement could not happen without a strong commitment of the Ministry of Health, under brilliant leadership and advices of Samdech Akka Moha Sena Padei Techo Hun Sen, Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Cambodia.

Another remaining major eye health problem in Cambodia is cataract. It causes 74.7% of blindness. And we need more resources to combat this problem including manpower as well as modern equipment and technologies. I would like to inform you that the current project has been implementing smoothly and successfully, and we have learnt a lot from Guangxi Medical Team. Up to now, the project in Kampong Cham Province has provided the consultation of Eyes Health Problem to patients approximately 10,504 and has operated cataract 4,961 patients.

Photo: Supplied