Tuesday, 27 October 2009

Health Ministry Warns Clinics over A/H1N1 Vaccine


Written by DAP NEWS -- Tuesday, 27 October 2009

(Posted by CAAI News Media)

Cambodia is Health Minister Mam Bunheng on Sunday strongly warned clinic in Cambodia offering A/H1N1 vaccines, saying the meds have yet to be approved for use by the ministry.

The warning came following reports said that some clinics in Cam- bodia are offering A/H1N1 vaccines to Cambodians for between US$10 and US$15.

“In Cambodia the A/H1N1 vaccine has so far not been inspected yet,” Mam Bunheng told reporters at the Phnom Penh International Airport as welcomed Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen back from the 15th ASEAN summit in Thailand.

“If anyone knows of such cases, please give detail information about the clinic name and the location to the ministry, and the ministry will investigate and take action,” Mam Bunheng said.
He urged Cambodians to exercise caution as there have been no official shipments of the A/H1N1 vaccine to Cambodia yet.

Sok Touch, Anti-Communicable Disease Control Department director, said last week that Cambodia will receive the A/H1N1 vaccine in November via the World Health Organization (WHO).

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. Cambodia on Wednesday confirmed the 202nd case of the A/H1N1 virus, more commonly called swine flu, with new cases 41 confirmed, according to a Cambodian Health Ministry official. There have been three fatalities.

The Health Ministry confirmed the first case of the A/H1N1 virus in Cambodia on June 24 after an American student from a group, which arrived in Cambodia June 19, tested positive for the disease.

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