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Keynote Address At the
Closing of the 31st Health Conference and the 8th Joint
Reassessment Conference of the Health Sector Achievements
Phnom Penh, 2nd March, 2010
Excellencies, Ladies
and Gentlemen distinguished national and international guests!
Today it is my
pleasure to be here in the closing of the “31st Conference of Health
and 8th Joint Reassessment Conference of Health Sector Achievements”.
This conference indeed is a great opportunity for all of us to jointly reassess
what have been done, drawbacks, opportunities and challenges to come up with new
plans that are consistent with various targets of the health sector and
supportive of participation from related ministries/institutions to ensure good
results and improved efficiency of the sector.
In particular, as
raised by H.E. Mom Bun Heng, Minister of Health, this conference is a
major annual event of the health sector where health officials from all levels,
development partners, the private sector and professional unions gather to
review the health situation in 2009 by looking at the progress and achievements
and challenges that must be dealt with in 2010 and upcoming years.
Taking this
opportunity, I would like to commend all officials, doctors, nurses, and workers
in the Ministry of Health and all hospitals for the high quality medical
services that push Cambodia’s health sector, starting from scratch because of
the war. Indeed, the progress achieved in the health sector is necessary in
contributing to poverty reduction of the people. Moreover, I highly appreciate
development partners, agencies, national and international organization and
relevant organization for cooperation and supports, in term of planning and
implementation of health sector. The objectives are to increase effectiveness of
health services for people, to reduce poverty, to develop socio-economy
conditions and to achieve spirit of Rectangular Strategy for growth, employment,
equity and efficiency in Cambodia. In this context, I would like management of
staff of the Ministry of Health, relevant ministries/institutions/organizations,
development partners, private sector and professional associations to continue
their supports and efforts in achieving a vision of health development in
Cambodia, especially on restoration and expansion physical infrastructure and
development of human resources. These are the foundation to expand coverage of
health service delivery and timely response to essential health services of our
people nationwide.
Achievements and
progresses in health sector could be made with financial and technical
contributions from our country friends, development partners, national and
international organizations and private sector. Those contributions are
invaluable to ensure public health, progress and sustainability of health sector
in Cambodia. In this sector, the Royal Government continues to implement Health
Sector Plan 2008-2015 to strengthen health services, improve quality of
services, change attitude of service providers, ensure sufficient and regular
flow of fund for supplies of medical equipment, strengthen skill and capacity of
staff, improve medical supplies and strengthen health information system,
including health financing and health governance, of which strengthening the
supplies, management and use of medical drugs and regulating pharmaceutical
products and private health services providers.
Moreover, we have been
expanding coverage program on prevention and treatment transmission disease,
maternal and infant health, and enforce free health consultation and treatment
for poor through increase and use of equity fund to enable the poor to receive
public health services without letting any patient die because of not be able to
receive full treatment and care from doctors. At the same time, we have
increased the budget support for this sector to further develop and expand the
number of referral hospitals, health centers and health posts across the country
in order to make basic health care services available for people in the area
with improved professional quality.
Along with that, the
RGC has expanded the quantity and improved the dispatching of doctors, general
practitioners, midwives, and nurses in the health sector through training and
various capacity building programs such as sending students and interns to
various training programs at the national and international level, and
increasing incentives for rural health officials. Meanwhile, we have been
promoting the professional ethics of doctors and that of all health officials so
that they can become real public health service providers. In that sense, all
state’s doctors and health officials who have the duty to provide health cares
for the people must try their utmost to adapt their personalities in accordance
with the codes of ethics in health sector by providing the people or patients
with cares and treatments based on technical principles, virtues, and integrity.
They must always view themselves as kind guardians of the patients so that they
can feel more comfortable and confidence while receiving the service. Besides,
the RGC has also increased its control on private health service providers such
as consultation services, treatment, and legal commercialization of medicines to
ensure the quality of the services and health of the people as well as continue
to strengthen and expand cooperation with public institutions, development
partners, private sector, national and international organizations, and donors
aiming at improving public health. Through this, we would have better ability to
strengthen and gradually expand our work toward the establishment of health
insurance system, and to broader and further educate and disseminate information
on health and sanitation to people. These works will constitute an effective
social safety net which could ensure sustainable development of Cambodia’s
health sector.
Along with the
achievements and progresses made, we also acknowledge that there are still rooms
for improvement including the challenges of rising population and new relocation
sites, the lack of researches and findings on new discoveries in this sector.
Moreover, the mechanism for facilitating health sector and the people,
enterprises and insurance work have not been fully in operation. Institutional
technological capacity is still limited for systematic work, and various
pandemics are still the challenges ahead. Besides, although we have so far
invested a lot on medical technology and institutional capacity building to
address the challenges facing health sector, I have personally observed that the
proper identification of diseases and the effectiveness of treatments are still
at the beginning phase. Hence, it is important that we continue to invest in
this sector in order to continue to strengthen medical technology, health
information system, especially, disease monitoring system which could track down
information across the country, the management system off all levels of health
entities which could respond quickly to various situations and to help promote
health officials’ ability to use these information to improve the quality of the
service. Base on this foundation, we must continue to promote and implement
various key policy measures including promoting the partnership and reform
initiatives in this sector aiming at improving the investment climate of the
private sector to participate in the development of physical infrastructures in
this sector which will create a key mechanism for rapidly develop Cambodia’s
health sector.
All of the points
mentioned above can be used as experiences for consideration while preparing the
action plan for 2010 and the year ahead. In this sense, the Ministry of Health,
and all level of related institutions must continue to try their utmost and by
all means with the available resources to effectively realizing the objectives
as set out by this 2010 conference.
Indeed, the conference
has received many new ideas that can be used for implementing the works ahead,
and I have raised many recommendations already regarding the promotion and
development of health sector, but as time goes by and in the evolving context,
new works keep on emerging. Bases on this, I would like to raise some more
recommendations to strengthen and expand the implementation of works in health
sector effectively aiming at improving and increasing the people’s confidence in
this sector.
1. Continue to prepare and strictly implement legal standard and
codes of professional ethic of doctors, dentists, pharmacists, midwives, general
practitioners, health clerks, nurses, staffs and agents of the whole health
sector aiming at improving the quality of health service delivery with
professionalism. At the same time, we must understand that a society can
prosper from the sense of contribution, responsibility and high determination of
each individual for the cause of national development.
2. Encourage all hospitals, health centers and health posts, and all
health service providing institutions to modernize this sector including
developing human resource, upgrading medical facility, technology, improving
health cares and treatment. Along with that, we have to continue promoting
research on this sector by strengthening and expanding cooperation with Health
University, Private Sector and other NGOs, Professional Associations, the
Research Unit of the Ministry of Health and various hospitals by stimulating and
suitably encouraging the new findings.
3. Take further measure seriously and implement the drizzling policy
by cooperating with related various ministries/institutions in order to
eliminate the medicines and medical facilities that are not of quality, fake and
the institution producing and selling medicines and medical treatment
institutions that have no license from the specialized authority, causing the
patients more serious.
4. Pay attention and closely cooperate with related
ministries/institution in order to continue close monitor to the institutions
producing cosmetics and beauty salon as well as the use of chemical substances
by legally punishing those who caused the problems and destroyed every
instruments, materials, facilities and products that have negative impact on the
public welfare.
5. Pay further favorable condition to encourage and promote the
private sector to participate actively in the development of health sector in
Cambodia, especially filling the gap that the Royal Government is unable to do,
in order to strengthen the quality of counseling, checking up, taking care, and
treating the people at high standard to ensure the patients’ trust and full
confident. Along with that, we have to implement the hegemony of health centers
and posts at the new resettlement, the development zones along the border and at
the rural areas all over the country by continuing to fully implement the equity
fund because this work will contribute significantly to the national defense and
territorial integrity of Cambodia.
The delivery of health
service will positively contribute to the economic development due to the fact
that this service is the main defining factor to increase productivity, labor,
investment and saving rate through making the people to receive good result in
education and profession for their living. The practical experience of other
countries in the region has shown that the improvement of health situation is
one of the key factors that creating the socio-economic progress faster even
though the good health alone is not yet the entirely sufficient factor to
promote high economic growth. In this spirit, I would like to reaffirm once
again that the health policy of the Royal Government is not just focusing on the
economy alone, but it is the willingness that resulted from the high attention
in welfare and improvement of the living of our people to be more
prosperous.
Certainly, the
fundamental structure of public health system is determined by technical
limitation and capacity of institution. In this context, Ministry of Health has
to continue its effort to deliver public health service closer to our people, in
conformity with de-concentration and decentralization policy of the government.
This policy has put high responsibility to deliver public health service for the
benefit of local people. Furthermore, Ministry of Health has to closely
cooperate with other relevant institutions to address other cross-cutting
challenges, such as climate change and natural disasters, which affect health of
human and animal, economy, agriculture, water and environment. In this respect,
Ministry of Health has to be ready by strengthening its medical emergency
service, medical consultation and public health care, providing treatment to
vulnerable people and preventing diseases outbreak such as malaria, dengue
fever, AH1N1 etc. and strengthening a system of monitor on transmission diseases
and a response system.
Before closing, I
would like again to appeal excellencies, ladies, gentlemen and the conference to
actively participate and implement the proposed plan and to share information,
knowledge and experiences in this conference in order to improve implementation
for new additional achievement as stated in the health strategy.
Finally, to the
closing of the thirty first Health Conference and the eighth Joint Review of
Health Achievements, I wish excellencies, ladies, gentlemen, distinguished
guests and the conference the four gems of Buddhist blessing.
EndItem
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