Cambodian PM removes capital's health department chief for ambulance seizure

Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen on Saturday removed Sok Sokun, director of Phnom Penh municipal health department, from his post for impounding an ambulance belonging to the popular ABC radio station.

In a telephone call to a live broadcast ABC radio, the prime minister made an apology on behalf of city health officials who confiscated the ambulance on Thursday with the accusation that the vehicle had neither the proper registration nor medical personnel, and was instead being used to peddle guava juice.

ABC radio station said that the ambulance has been used for humanitarian purposes such as transporting victims or corpses in traffic accidents with free-of-charge.

"To compensate for that...I have ordered Health Minister (Mam Bunheng) to remove the director of the health department from his position," Hun Sen said.

"This is not a matter of winning or losing, but it is a matter that causes a public misunderstanding of the government's policy."

The prime minister ordered the health department to return the ambulance to the radio station and also announced to donate two more ambulances to the radio station for using in its humanitarian activities. Enditem