Travel Reports
An incredible elective in Cambodia: Tamsin Hayward
(1991-1998. St. Helen's, St. Hilda's)
After much thought and research I decided to travel to Cambodia for my medical elective. I was given the opportunity to work with the health care organisation RACHA, The Reproductive and Child Health Alliance, which operates numerous outreach programmes providing health education/promotion as well as supplying basic medical needs.
Cambodia is the smallest and most undeveloped nation in SE Asia, but despite the recent horrors of the Khmer Rouge, it remains a beautiful country with a remarkable history.
In September 2003, I arrived in the Capital, Phnom Penh, and was delighted to discover I had the opportunity to travel all over the country to experience a whole spectrum of health care.
In the first week I travelled to Kratie in the northeast, one of the poorest and most malarious regions. The true impoverishment of the country and lack of basic health care resources soon became very apparent.
My first Cambodian hospital was a sight for sore eyes. The wards were bleak and bare both in terms of patients and furniture; rows of wooden beds with no bed clothing, and with no sign of medical equipment to be seen. The diseases I saw there were typical of the developing world: Chest infections, Malaria, Tuberculosis and Typhoid fever. HIV and hepatitis B and C are also increasingly common.
A combination of traditional beliefs in ancient remedies, fees and minimal education all contribute to the under-utilization of the few existing health services available. Some women I spoke to had not even heard of contraception and were astounded by the ability to control the size of their families.
In Preas dak village I helped with a RACHA-run Vaccination programme. I helped midwives and nurses give vaccines to babies and enjoyed trying to talk to the locals in my limited Khmer language. Despite there being nationally a very low uptake for vaccines, in RACHA provinces, almost 70% of the target population have received all recommended vaccinations.
I also visited the NGO-funded Angkor Hospital for Children in Siem Reap where I was reassured to see children with trivial illnesses and well-trained Khmer doctors (retrained by Western doctors) diagnosing and curing patients with reliable laboratory tests and even an X-ray machine!
My elective is without doubt the most enjoyable medical experience I have had throughout medical school and my time in Cambodia has inspired me to work abroad in developing countries in the future.