UCA News
June 30, 2008
TAKEO, Cambodia (UCAN) -- The opening of a new building in a Church-run pediatric facility now allows poor patients greater access to surgery and medical treatment for heart disease.
On June 23, Archbishop Salvatore Pennacchio, apostolic nuncio to Cambodia, inaugurated the new building at Bambino Gesu (infant Jesus) Pediatric Hospital within Dankeo Referral Hospital in Takeo, 70 kilometers south of Phnom Penh.
The Bangkok-based nuncio said he is pleased with the collaboration between the Church-run facility for children and the government hospital. The new building is equipped for surgery and treatment of heart disease.
At the launch Doctor Lorenzo Borghese, coordinator of Bambino Gesu Pediatric Hospital, said it has treated 3,141 patients from across the country, all for free, since it opened in 2006. Of those young patients, 267 have had surgery, he added. The children's hospital also provides training for local doctors and nurses, he noted.
Doctor Tae Vanntha told UCA News that until now children could undergo surgery only on Tuesdays and Thursdays, when the Dankeo hospital's operating theater was available to the children's hospital. With the opening of the new building, he says Bambino Gesu could perform surgery on five or six children every day.
According to Vanntha, most of the child patients are brought by the Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul and NGOs. Some come after hearing about the facility from neighbors, the doctor added.
Among the most common surgeries it has performed are correction of congenital malformations such as cleft palate and scarring from wounds caused by land mines.
The Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul manage the facility in cooperation with and sponsorship from L'Ospedale Bambino Gesu (hospital of the infant Jesus), a pediatric hospital the Holy See owns in Rome.
"We have sent nine children with life-threatening heart problems for surgery at L'Ospedale Bambino Gesu," Sister Myrna Porto told UCA News. She said her congregation also supported family members to accompany the children for three months. These services have cost US$260,000, all funded from Italy, and five of the children have returned, the Filipina nun revealed.
Soun Channy, 25, told UCA News she had been at the pediatric hospital in Takeo seven days with both of her children, who have a congenital skin disease. "The doctor tried to research our family background, but could not find anything, because my husband's family was killed during the Khmer Rouge regime (1975-1979)," recounted the woman from Sihanoukville, 200 kilometers southwest of Phnom Penh. She confirmed she does not need to pay for her children's treatment here.
Bambino Gesu Pediatric Hospital has beds for 24 regular and eight intensive-care patients under the age of 18 years. It has three doctors, one a foreigner, as well as 12 nurses and two office workers. The Cambodian government pays the salaries of all staff, while all equipment comes from Italy.
June 30, 2008
TAKEO, Cambodia (UCAN) -- The opening of a new building in a Church-run pediatric facility now allows poor patients greater access to surgery and medical treatment for heart disease.
On June 23, Archbishop Salvatore Pennacchio, apostolic nuncio to Cambodia, inaugurated the new building at Bambino Gesu (infant Jesus) Pediatric Hospital within Dankeo Referral Hospital in Takeo, 70 kilometers south of Phnom Penh.
The Bangkok-based nuncio said he is pleased with the collaboration between the Church-run facility for children and the government hospital. The new building is equipped for surgery and treatment of heart disease.
At the launch Doctor Lorenzo Borghese, coordinator of Bambino Gesu Pediatric Hospital, said it has treated 3,141 patients from across the country, all for free, since it opened in 2006. Of those young patients, 267 have had surgery, he added. The children's hospital also provides training for local doctors and nurses, he noted.
Doctor Tae Vanntha told UCA News that until now children could undergo surgery only on Tuesdays and Thursdays, when the Dankeo hospital's operating theater was available to the children's hospital. With the opening of the new building, he says Bambino Gesu could perform surgery on five or six children every day.
According to Vanntha, most of the child patients are brought by the Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul and NGOs. Some come after hearing about the facility from neighbors, the doctor added.
Among the most common surgeries it has performed are correction of congenital malformations such as cleft palate and scarring from wounds caused by land mines.
The Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul manage the facility in cooperation with and sponsorship from L'Ospedale Bambino Gesu (hospital of the infant Jesus), a pediatric hospital the Holy See owns in Rome.
"We have sent nine children with life-threatening heart problems for surgery at L'Ospedale Bambino Gesu," Sister Myrna Porto told UCA News. She said her congregation also supported family members to accompany the children for three months. These services have cost US$260,000, all funded from Italy, and five of the children have returned, the Filipina nun revealed.
Soun Channy, 25, told UCA News she had been at the pediatric hospital in Takeo seven days with both of her children, who have a congenital skin disease. "The doctor tried to research our family background, but could not find anything, because my husband's family was killed during the Khmer Rouge regime (1975-1979)," recounted the woman from Sihanoukville, 200 kilometers southwest of Phnom Penh. She confirmed she does not need to pay for her children's treatment here.
Bambino Gesu Pediatric Hospital has beds for 24 regular and eight intensive-care patients under the age of 18 years. It has three doctors, one a foreigner, as well as 12 nurses and two office workers. The Cambodian government pays the salaries of all staff, while all equipment comes from Italy.
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