A
majority of the more than 2,500 children hospitalized by illnesses in the
Kantha Bopha hospital network between Sunday and yesterday were critically poor
and could not survive without free treatment, Kantha Bopha hospital founder and
head Dr. Beat Richner said.
“[As of]
Tuesday, July 19, at 6am, there were 2,590 severely sick children hospitalized
[over the past three days]. Eighty percent of these children would not have a
chance without hospitalization. This serious reality must be seriously
considered by the authorities,” Dr. Richner wrote in a report of the hospital
network, which added that most of the children were from “very poor” families.
A number
of the children, 92, were moved to Kantha Bopha after receiving poor treatment
from referral hospitals or private clinics, Dr. Richner wrote.
He went
on to say that all treatment at the Kantha Bopha hospitals is free, that no
members of the network’s staff take money from families of patients and that no
staff member works at a private clinic in addition to the hospitals.
During
the past three days, Kantha Bopha hospitals have performed 82 operations, Dr.
Richner wrote. He added that of the more than 2,500 cases of illness reported,
the most severe were 141 children with hemorrhagic dengue fever.
An
additional 3,453 children are receiving outpatient care from the hospital
network, with 75 of the cases encephalitis and 25 of the cases meningitis.
“As many
as 25 percent of the staff work at night and on Sunday,” Dr. Richner wrote.
Over the
last 23 years, the Kantha Bopha hospital network has treated 13 million
outpatients and 1.56 million seriously ill inpatients.
The
Council of Ministers in October last year approved a 12.18 percent increase in
health sector spending in 2016.
San
Bunsim
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