Health Center Gives Support And Hope To People With Cancer

Posted: 24th June 2008

PHNOM PENH (UCAN) -- For many poor Cambodians with cancer or any other serious illness, getting medical treatment is just a dream, let alone receiving care at a proper health facility.

Recognizing this, the Catholic Church in Phnom Penh opened Elizabeth Health Center to care for and support such patients from across the country, regardless of their religion.

"I have breast cancer, but I receive good care here at the center," Luy Eang Chheng told UCA News recently. Sitting on a chair with a red scarf over her head, the thin 53-year-old woman said she had been at the center six months and is in pain, but the care the staff provides gives her hope.

Elizabeth Health Center, which opened in July 2007 at Beong Tompon parish in the capital, now has 95 patients, according to center head Paola Maiocchi. The Italian lay missioner told UCA News it welcomes patients of any religious background. Maiocchi, also head of the Health Pastoral Committee of Phnom Penh apostolic vicariate, said the center provides the patients three meals a day without demanding payment from them.

Chheng appreciates this very much because her family is very poor. Moreover, "when I am not well they immediately send me to the hospital," added the woman from Sey Sisophon, in northwestern Cambodia. "Paola and her staff always encourage me. I feel at home here."

Ton Sool, 47, a farmer from Kompong Cham province, northeast of Phnom Penh, also has breast cancer. She told UCA News the center sends her to the hospital five days a week for radiation treatments. "I hope I will be 100-percent cured," Sool said.

Another resident, Yem Rin, from nearby Kandal province, is recovering after the center sent her for breast-cancer surgery last August.

Rin, 46, told UCA News that apart from medical service, the center arranges fun activities such as games and drawing competitions through which patients can win T-shirts as prizes.

Maiocchi recalled the idea of setting up the center came a few years ago from lay missioners and priests at Child of Jesus Parish in Beong Tompon. They wanted to expand on the service of the only other Church health facility, the Temporary Care Center at St. Joseph Parish in Phnom Penh, which provides only short-term, general care.

They decided to set up Elizabeth Health Center in cooperation with the Temporary Care Center for patients Church workers send in from throughout the country. The older center sends patients who need longer-term medical care to the newer center.

"Most patients who come (to Elizabeth Health Center) have advanced stages of cancer. We send them to the Russian Union Public Hospital, the only place in Cambodia that treats cancer," Maiocchi said. The center director acknowledged that medical treatment in Cambodia is very expensive.

"We ask the patients to help by making a contribution. If they do not have money, that is not a problem because we know they are very poor," she said.

Elizabeth Health Center has an annual budget of US$40,000, mostly funded from Italy, Hong Kong and Australia. Only about US$60 comes from the few patients who can make a contribution. Two Catholic medical students volunteer at the center.

Article Source: UCAN