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Cambodia

HBB’s Breakthrough in Cambodia

September 24, 2017 (7 years ago)
Reading time: 3 minutes

12 Children underwent surgery in HBB Maternity Health Centre, Cambodia on 23rd September 2017. It was the very FIRST operation carried out at HBB Maternity Health Centre making it one of historical moments for HBB.

Boy at Angkor Wat
Photo by JJ Ying / Unsplash

It was indeed a start of a productive  weekend at HBB Maternity Health Centre as we headed to the airport as early as 6.30am to wait for the arrival of YM Tengku Puan Bendahara Perlis Datin Seri Diraja Sharifah Azura, our surgeon, anesthetist and a group of Malaysian volunteers.

From Left: Dr. Syariz, Dr. Hannan, Dato. Dr. Azmil & Dr. Mafeitzeraal

Prior to the event, we received a call from Dr. Syariz Sehat, a renowned humanitarian surgeon in Malaysia, informing that he would like to utilise HBB operating theatre for his project. At first we hesitated. If you step your foot into our Operation Theater, you will find out why we hesitated. ( For those who are keen to look around our HBB Mobile Clinic and the OT room, we strongly suggest for you to join our volunteering trip this coming November 2018).

Nonetheless, since we believed that this could help a lot of people in Cambodia, with as expert such as Dr. Syariz, this major plan would work out even with our basic OT equipment.

No sooner had we welcomed them and introduced ourselves than we departed to HBB clinic to prepare for the operation. Around 12 children were scheduled to undergo the surgery. They came from poor families all over Cambodia, suffering for years from different kinds of illness. It is with the help of our Medical Director, Dr. Roly that we were able to gather them at our centre.

The team of doctors operating

HBB would like to express our deepest gratitude and appreciation to Dr. Mafeitzeral and Dato Dr. Azmil as our anaesthetists on duty, both of whom are experts in their field. Despite minimal equipment and limited technology, they successfully managed to proceed with local and even general anesthesia (GA) for the patients without any complication.  After the surgery, all of the patients were observed in our wards for 6 hours for immediate complications such as bleeding from the operation site or residual effects of anesthetics drugs etc before they were allowed home. Some of them were staying at their relatives’ houses around our compound and only 3 of them were encouraged to stay overnight at our wards due to transportation issues. They had to wait for the next day to catch a boat to go back to their village safely.

Apart from the surgery, we also conducted an additional brief paediatric health screening with few other doctors as well as providing educational activities on oral hygiene to children from a school nearby our clinic.

Once again HBB would like to express our deepest appreciation to everyone involved for this Medical Work Relief and for the continuous support given towards HBB. It was indeed another momentous event for HBB. We were indebted to everyone who was involved directly & indirectly to ensure the project was a success. The smiles behind every Cambodian kid who received the treatment was definitely a satisfaction to all of us who involved directly and indirectly. It was one of the reasons of why we do, what we do, as well as who we do it for. God bless!

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