(Posted by CAAI News Media)
A senior Cambodian government official admitted on Saturday that he had already received an A(H1N1) flu vaccination at a private hospital on Norodom Boulevard, Phnom Penh. State hospitals, however, do not offer these injections.
“I paid US$20 for injecting the new flu vaccination this morning, an official from anti-corruption authority told his master’s degree classes at a university in Phnom Penh. “I am so concerned about this flu. Therefore I called to my friend as doctor at Calmette Hospital. But he told me to that his hospital does not offer this vaccination. He recommended me to a private hospital … [but] the doctor there told me that this vaccination is cannot offer 100 percent protection or cure A(H1N1) flu or strengthen the immune system.”
A local journalist also said that he paid about US$30 for a flu vaccination from a doctor near Central Market.
Health Minister Mum Bunheng has said several times in the media that so far his ministry has not imported flu vaccinations, seeming sharp contrast with private hospitals, clinics and even some pharmacies. “I do not know how the private hospitals could import that vaccination into Cambodia because the Health Ministry did not issue the direction to do so,” Ly Sovan, deputy director of the Communicable Disease Control of department of the Health Ministry said yesterday. “How could not I know that vaccination in Cambodia?” he asked. “If they import that vaccination, the Committee of Drug Control of the Health Ministry will check first to ensure about quality of that vaccination.”
The Health Ministry will investigate the, he added. There have been over 200 documented cases in Cambodia and with three documented fatalities, including a pregnant woman in Phnom Penh. “We will update new data every week on our website,” Ly Sovan said.
He also recommended people not go to crowded places if they are worried about catching the flu.
“If we have vaccinations for the flu, it will be provided for children, doctors and elderly people because they face risks.”
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