For Health Care, Cambodians Choose Vietnam

“I trust the Cambodian doctors with a simple problem. But if it’s a serious illness, and I need an operation or something, I don’t really trust them,” said Ly Molina, 31, a businesswoman from Phnom Penh. Ms. Molina spoke as she waited for a bus to take her and her family to Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam for medical checkups. “The quality [of medical treatment] is better there,” she said. Ms. Molina is one of a large number of Cambodians, and not just the wealthy ones, who are choosing to cross the border to Vietnam for basic medical treatment. “My husband has problems with his skin,” she said. “We tried getting him treated here, but the treatment hasn’t worked, so we’re going to Vietnam,” said Ms. Molina, who expects to pay about $500 for checkups in Vietnam for herself, her parents and her husband. A t a time when Cambodia’s health care system is in the international spotlight amid the enterovirus 71 (EV71) outbreak, Ms. Molina’s decision regarding health care for her family is not unique. …