Health care policy and administration

National Police and National Military Police have been ordered by the Health Ministry to inspect the licenses of all private ambulances, which are often seen fighting for business at the scene of traffic accidents before charging exorbitant prices for their services. ...

More than 1,300 unlicensed medical clinics were shut down in 2015 and the remaining 900 will be closed in 2016, Health Minister Mam Bunheng said on Tuesday, ostensibly putting an end to lax medical standards that have allowed for scandals such as the mass HIV ...

Cambodia has reported 15,015 dengue fever cases in the first 50 weeks of this year, a more than 300 percent rise from the 3,611 cases over the same period last year, according to figures released yesterday.  ...

The Ministry of Heath on Monday ordered pharmacies to halt the sale of unapproved diet pill Mazeta Slim, a purportedly American drug that the ministry said actually likely originates in China. ...

Less than a week after a government minister said he could not say when long-awaited restrictions on smoking in public places would come into effect, one health official expressed confusion at the seemingly stalled progress, especially as compared to an overnight ban placed last year ...

A new government initiative to warn Cambodians about the dangers of smoking tobacco was launched yesterday by the Ministry of Health and World Health Organization. ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen on Monday called for people to be more careful with what they ingest, as the death toll from rice wine poisoning in the past week rose to 20 with another death in Kratie province and two others reported dead in remote ...

Authorities in Kratie province have ordered an emergency ban on the production of rice wine as the death toll from methanol poisoning in the province over the past five days rose to 17 with the deaths on Sunday of five people in Chet Borei district. ...

Rice wine brewed with a toxic level of alcohol has killed at least 19 people and left 172 more in hospital in northeast Cambodia, the health ministry said Sunday.“Laboratory tests found the deaths were caused by the high methanol level in the wine,” Ly Sovann, ...

Police in Siem Reap province yesterday shuttered an unlicensed medical clinic they say was using more than 100 unregistered medicines, though the clinic’s owner insisted the raid was in response to rival clinics complaining about their prices being undercut by his charitable operation. ...

Alcohol experts and victims of excessive drinking came together yesterday to urge the government to speedily adopt a law controlling the consumption and sale of booze that was first drafted in 2008. ...

At least three Cambodian villagers have died and 31 others have been hospitalised in eastern Kratie province after consuming the cooked flesh of a big dog that was toxic, a local police chief confirmed on Monday. ...

The Global Fund, provider of the lion’s share of money for Cambodia’s $12 million-a-year HIV treatment and prevention program, has told the government it expects it to begin footing more of the bill itself, a push that is prompting worries among local health-care providers. However, ...

The rate of HIV infection in Cambodia has decreased in the past year, according to new figures from the National AIDS Authority, but experts say further work is needed to prevent new infections and increase access to medical treatment. ...

In the summer of 2013, the French government sent out an alert to health agencies throughout Europe of a spike in travelers recently returned from Cambodia needing treatment in hospitals after exposure to a rare strain of salmonella. By the fall, 34 patients in France, ...

A recent study of Cambodian monkeys found that nonhuman primates can host viruses previously thought to only infect humans. ...

Three women and four kids fell ill after ingesting pesticides and were transported to a local hospital nearby yesterday in Kampong Chnang city. ...

Eight people have died of malaria so far this year across the country, according to the government’s latest figures. The deaths mean Cambodia has missed its goal to eliminate fatalities from the mosquito-borne parasite by 2015, though health officials questioned the number—and even the target. ...

More than 2,000 ducks have died from the H5N1 bird flu in Siem Reap and Battambang provinces since Thursday in the first outbreak of the virus since March 2014, according to officials and the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) on Tuesday. ...

Fleeing strict new laws at home, surrogacy companies are moving their “wombs for rent” services from Thailand to Cambodia, causing some analysts to raise concerns that would-be parents could be swindled by the little-regulated industry. ...

A groundbreaking new study on human transmission of the dengue virus conducted in Kompong Cham province has shown that the virus can be spread back to mosquitoes by asymptomatic carriers, who are actually more infectious than those displaying symptoms. ...

The health minister on Friday defended the government’s failure to fine or shut down any of the private clinics that are currently illegally promoting baby formula to new mothers, saying that more time was needed for committees to “investigate” the breaches. ...

After years of research and testing, a nutritional snack meant to halt rampant malnourishment and stunting among Cambodian children has been developed in the form of a fish paste-filled wafer, which will be released on the market by 2017. ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen has called for stronger enforcement of regulations on the promotion and sale of baby formula, linking a decrease in the number of women who breast-feed to an increase in un­lawful and misleading advertising that misrepresents milk substitutes and deceives new mothers. ...