Kampot provincial governor Cheav Tay holds a meeting with JICA to discuss turning the provincial referral hospital to be regional hospital, on Thursday. Kampot Provincial Administration
The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has started studying plans to transform Kampot Provincial Referral Hospital into a regional hospital in order to expand health services for area residents.
Provincial administration spokesman Vit Vathana told The Post on July 25 that a representative from JICA came to discuss the possibility of upgrading the provincial referral hospital to a modern regional hospital with Chiao Tai, the governor of Kampot province.
He added that the Cambodian Ministry of Health had requested that JICA study ways to improve the provincial referral hospitals and turn them into regional hospitals in provinces such as Phnom Penh, Kampong Cham, Battambang, Svay Rieng and Kampot.
According to Vathana, JICA has already started studying, collecting data and examining the feasibility of transforming the Kampot hospital.
The project has not been implemented yet because the results of their study have not been determined and JICA also needs time to bring in a large team that will work on planning for the project.
“It is just a study, JICA has six groups. It’s just the first group. So they are in the process of studying it. They met with the director of the hospital. They’ve studied a lot of data,” the provincial administration spokesperson said.
During a meeting with the provincial governor on July 12, Mr. Yamasaki, technical advisor of JICA, stated that his mission to Kampot is at the request of the health ministry to study the development of regional hospitals as well as expand health services to be more accessible to the people.
Yamasaki said that the study of this area hospital project was to be conducted in Kampot, Kampong Cham, Svay Rieng, Stung Treng, Battambang and Phnom Penh.
Kampot provincial governor Chiao Tai expressed his support and requested that the provincial health department cooperate with the JICA delegation to facilitate the study process and help make the project a success soon.
The Post could not contact Nha Bunthorn, director of the Kampot provincial health department, nor Ministry of Health spokeswoman Or Vandine for comments on July 25.
However, according to Vattana, this regional hospital will provide faster and more efficient treatment services for people in the province with better medicines, materials and technology for their treatment.
