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Clinic Boosts Women’s Health
The location is high-visibility, on the busy corner of Pochentong
Boulevard and Street 61, and the facilities are sparklingly clean.
The staff is experienced and thoroughly trained in the range of
procedures performed, but the costs are rock-bottom.
Cambodia Women’s Clinic is rapidly making a name for itself as a
source of quality reproductive health care at an affordable rate.
Although the chief mandate of this local NGO is to raise the level
of care available to Cambodian women, the facilities are open to
anyone and many foreign women have started attending.
The clinic was set up by with funding from Marie Stopes Australia,
part of an international organization focused on reproductive
health. The intention is that the clinic becomes self-sustaining,
releasing the set-up funds for starting more clinics.
Reproductive health services from contraception to midwifery plus a
range of other forms of care are offered by a team of nurses,
medical assistants—equivalent to nurse practitioners in other
countries—and doctors, depending on the procedures.
Program director Alan Cole, an Australian-born nurse and midwife,
says the team approach is a central part of the clinic’s
philosophy. “We are committed to multi-skilling,” he said,
“and we are trying to encourage the use of nurse practitioners
wherever appropriate.” He stresses that many procedures can be
performed well by trained paramedics, which assures good care for
the patient as well as realistic costs.
Use of medical assistants will be the best way for Cambodia to care
for its girls and women in future, he says, because high fees paid
to doctors can limit access to those services by the poor.
Fees at the clinic start at 3,000 riel for a simple consultation.
The most expensive procedure available—a first-trimester pregnancy
termination—is only $15. Cole says any foreigner who chooses to
make an additional donation will not be discouraged, but emphasizes
that accessibility to all potential clients is the overriding aim
and there are funds available to subsidize costs in cases of need.
—Elizabeth Wright
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