Kantha Bopha Children’s Hospital, which provides free-of-charge care for children in Cambodia, announced it had treated more than 1,500 patients on July 24, including a 12-year-old girl with severe diabetes.
The hospital said in a post on the Beat Richner Facebook page on July 25 that, on the day following the national election, it had seen 1,575 outpatients, with 485 new seriously ill children hospitalised.
“Some 1,575 sick children were examined and treated at outpatient stations on July 24, while 2,129 children were being treated.
“Four hundred and fifty children were admitted to the ICU [intensive care unit], with 12 having undergone emergency surgery. Forty five women gave birth,” the post announced.
The hospital said it had also successfully saved the life of a 12-year-old girl who had developed severe diabetes. The girl was unconscious, and had developed an ulcer and severe kidney damage.
“While the 12-year-old had been treated for diabetes and monitored for many years at Kantha Bopha Hospital, she had missed appointments for some time.
“This exacerbated her illness, and she experienced fainting, ulcers and back pain, ultimately suffering severe kidney damage. But she was saved by the emergency services of Kantha Bopha Hospital and returned home with a smile.
“We extend our deepest thanks and appreciation to the team of emergency doctors of Kantha Bopha Hospital in Phnom Penh who saved her life.
The first Kantha Bopha Hospital was founded by the late Swiss paediatrician Beat Richner in 1992. The hospital provides free medical care to children regardless of ability to pay.
The hospital spends an average of $840,000 per week and more than $40 million per year on patient care.
Non-communicable diseases such as diabetes and obesity are increasingly becoming a deadly problem in Cambodia.
The Global Nutrition Report 2020 said one in eight children aged between five and 19 were overweight or obese in Cambodia. Two-thirds of deaths were caused by non-communicable diseases, most of them related to diet.
The report found that in 2010, patients with diabetes accounted for 5.2 per cent of all adults.
In 2019, that figure had risen to 6.4 per cent. What was even more concerning, the report said, was that 62 per cent of diabetes patients did not realise they had developed the disease.
Meanwhile, the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) said that, on average, at least 22 people died of diabetes in Cambodia every day in 2019.
Regarding the treatment costs of diabetes, the IDF found that one patient paid $238 a year, with all patients spending a total of $102 million in 2019.
The IDF estimated that by 2030 the cost of treatment for diabetes in Cambodia could reach $145.9 million.
As of July 22 this year, the death toll in the Kingdom from diabetes had risen to 8,325, with the number of patients rising to nearly 500,000.
