Taiwanese NGO to provide free clinic services, medicines to Cambodia

Taipei, July 22 (CNA) A medical team organized by a local non-governmental organization (NGO) is set to provide free clinic services and medicines to around 2,000 patients in Cambodia on a six-day trip scheduled for late July.

The 51-member team -- comprising three doctors, five dentists, three pharmacists, seven nurses, and 33 volunteers -- will run free clinic services in three locations in Siem Reap Province, said Sally Yu (余慈薰), CEO of the Formosa Budding Hope Organization (FBHO).

The team plans to set off to Cambodia on Wednesday and return to Taiwan on July 29, but because the three locations are all situated in remote areas, a significant amount of time during the six-day trip will be spent on traveling to those areas, leaving the team with only three days to actually provide clinic services, Yu said.

"Their daily lives are full of inconveniences," she said, referring to Cambodians living in remote areas. "But the more inconveniences they have, the more we need to reach out to them."

Despite the difficulties of providing services to difficult-to-access communities, Yu predicts that around 2,000 patients will be able to receive medical or dental services provided by the team.

She also added that the FBHO has managed to prepare approximately 70 types of commonly used medicines in a short time with the assistance provided by the Federation of Taiwan Pharmacists Associations (FTPA).

FTPA President Huang Chin-shun (黃金舜) told CNA that the association collaborated with four pharmaceutical companies to sponsor the medical team by donating medications, including antibiotics, skin ointments, as well as drugs for chronic diseases such as hypertension and diabetes.

The donation also marks the FTPA's first medical donation for overseas patients since the end of the COVID-19 pandemic, Huang added.

The FBHO was established in 2010 by "a group of friends passionate about Cambodia," and has already helped 47,679 people, according to the NGO's official website.

"For the next ten, twenty, and even fifty years, we will strive to spread the love and kindness of the Taiwanese people to both Cambodia and the rural areas of Taiwan," the organization wrote in a recent statement.