CONTENTS

The future is looking much healthier for youngsters in the Siem Reap area with the opening of two hospitals for children.

The Angkor Hospital for Children in Siem Reap’s outpatient department opened its doors in January in a facility designed and funded by Friends Without A Border, a New York-based NGO. By May the surgical unit was opened and when the hospital is in full swing, there will be 60 beds for inpatients.

Although the hospital is autonomous, as a matter of policy it works closely with the Ministry of Health and maintains a fee structure that harmonizes with the national system. The goal is for it eventually to become a pediatric arm of the Siem Reap Province Hospital and a referral hospital for provincial health centers.

Friends Without A Border physicians under the leadership of chief pediatrician Dr Marlene Goodfriend are committed to further education and training of medical professionals as well as treating a steady stream of young patients, presently up to 100 a day.

The hospital, brainchild of photographer Kenro Izu, receives supplies and materials from the US and Japan through the Friends NGO.

—Elizabeth Wright