Cambodian PM urges people to avoid unlicensed doctors after recent HIV outbreak

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen on Tuesday appealed to the people not to receive medical services from unlicensed doctors after some 226 people have infected with HIV in remote Roka village due to the use of contaminated syringes by an unlicensed doctor. "This HIV outbreak is a big and miserable story,"he said during the closing ceremony of the Health Ministry's annual conference."I'd like to appeal to the people to avoid unlicensed doctors."

He said the government has prepared a thorough plan to assist those innocent victims in Roka village in northwest Cambodia and has been educating them not to spread the virus to others.

Health Minister Mam Bunheng said earlier that from Dec. 8 to Jan. 22, 226 people had been tested positive for HIV in the village, adding that the use of contaminated medical equipment by an unlicensed doctor was the cause of mass transmission.

The unlicensed doctor is identified as Yem Chrin, 56, who was arrested on Dec. 17 and was charged with cruel murder. He could face life imprisonment if convicted.

Residents in the village had their blood tested for HIV after a 74-year-old man, who tested positive for the virus in November, alerted others, who used to receive injection or intravenous infusion from unlicensed doctors.

Local media reported Tuesday that six of the HIV-positive carriers in the village have died so far.

Cambodia has seen a success in reducing HIV infection rate over the last decade.

The prevalence rate of HIV infection steadily declined to 0.4 percent among adults in 2014 from 2.5 percent in 1998, according the National AIDS Authority.

Currently, the Southeast Asian nation has nearly 74,000 people living with the virus. Endi