Off the wire
• Alibaba launches Sports Group, aiming high in China's sports industry  • New Zealand aid to target Pacific fisheries, tourism, agriculture  • News Analysis: China to resume inland nuclear power development  • Spotlight: U.S. aware of "urgency" in refugee crisis, yet far falls short of action  • Argentina aims at title at FIBA Americas Championship  • Square dancing remains controversial despite government regulation  • Chinese TMT firms launch record IPOs: PwC  • New Zealand envoy appointed to lead WTO agriculture talks  • Indian stocks open higher  • Roundup: Australia to permanently take 12,000 Syrian refugees, bomb IS in Syria  
You are here: 　 Home

Cambodian minister calls for crackdown on unlicensed healthcare providers

Xinhua, September 9, 2015 Adjust font size:

Cambodian Minister of Health Mam Bunheng has called for crackdown on illegal health services and counterfeit medicines, local media reported Wednesday.

"We have enough laws now, so please make the effort to combat illegal health services and medicines in the country," the minister said.

Bunheng's remarks followed reports that more than 200 villagers in Roka village in northwest Cambodia had infected with HIV after receiving medical services from an unlicensed doctor, who allegedly used unsterilized needles and reused syringes on patients.

"The problem in Roka village is our example, and we don't want this to happen again."

According to the Cambodian Ministry of Health, there were nearly 4,000 unlicensed healthcare facilities in the country as of August.

Heng Bun Keat, director of the ministry's Drugs and Food Department, said that the sale of counterfeit drugs and promotion of illegal services were still widespread in the kingdom, with the ministry counting 3,942 illegal health-service providers and 8,502 legal ones.

"There is still the sale of medicine and the promotion of health (services) without permission from the ministry. It really affects public health," he said, quoted by the Phnom Penh Post newspaper. Endi