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Some of
the students had failed their clinical exams – required to advance in their
medical degrees – two or three times and wanted the prime minister to waive the
results, the comment posted on Monday said.
“We are
always supporting the smart and good leadership of Samdech that brings
development to Cambodia,” a student named Bun Samdath wrote. “We strongly hope
that Samdech will intervene in the exam results, and we wish Samdech and his
family all the best.”
The
request was posted just a day after Dr Beat Richner – frustrated after scores
of improperly treated children were brought to his Kantha Bopha hospitals on
Saturday – said medical doctors at private clinics lacked the skills to provide
adequate medical care, and requested that the Ministry of Health begin testing
them.
In June,
Hun Sen permitted 99 students who had passed written entrance exams but failed
oral exams to enter medical school anyway. In January, the prime minister
agreed to reduce the price of final exams for medical students seeking
accreditation to practice medicine from $125 to $25 after students petitioned
him on his Facebook page.
Experts
say these concessions are weakening the already poor quality of Cambodia’s
medical schools and the preparedness of new doctors leaving them.
“Many
patients are misdiagnosed every day [in Cambodia] because of the poor quality
of the medical schools,” said Dr Quach Mengley, a Cambodian-American doctor
based in Cambodia. “Passing and failing an exam is no longer taken seriously
due to [a lack of] transparency, and most of the students have to look for
their own clinics or hospitals for training.”
Other
health professionals agree that Cambodian medical students could benefit from
gaining additional skills after their studies. “I think that doctors finishing
medical school in Cambodia need to spend one to two years training in a foreign
hospital,” said Dr Jean Claude Garen, a doctor at Phnom Penh’s Naga Clinic.
Representatives
from the Royal University of Health Science could not be reached for comment.
The prime minister had not yet responded to the students’ message yesterday.
Additional
reporting by Kong Meta
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