"We cannot live only for ourselves. A thousand fibres connect us with our fellow men"
- Herman Melville

Cambodia is a beautiful country, just 2 1/2 hours flight from Kuala Lumpur. However, it is also one of the poorest countries in the world due to years of civil war and external occupation and the brutal Pol Pot regime. The per capita GNP is 320 USD. Total expenditure on health per capita is 19 USD per year, of which the government contributes 5 USD. There are 30 Cambodian doctors for every 100 000 population. The total population of Cambodia is 13,881,427. 36% of the population is between 0-14 years; 61% between 15-64 years and 3.4% over 65 years. The infant mortality rate is 68.78 deaths per 1000 life births.

In Siem Reap province, 48% of women are completely illiterate and only 10% have education beyond secondary level. 38% of children aged between 12-23 months are fully vaccinated as per EPI (Expanded Program of Immunization).

Friends Without a Border (Friends) was founded in1995 by internationally acclaimed photographer, Kenro Izu. Using his photography to raise awareness and financial support, Izu's dream was realised with the opening on AHC in 1999. AHC has treated over 338,000 children over the last 7 years and is now a recognised teaching hospital. Friends remain a small organisation, maintaining offices in New York, Tokyo and Paris. Funds are raised through grants, donations, annual events and generosity of donors.

On September 14th 2006, Assc.Prof Saw Aik and I arrived in Siem Reap as volunteers at the Angkor Hospital for Children (AHC). The contact was first established 2 months earlier when Dr. Saw was on vacation in Siem Reap. He visited the AHC and invited Dr Sar Vurthy, senior paediatric surgeon at the hospital to visit University Malaya Medical Center the following month and give a lecture on paediatric orthopaedic problems in Cambodia.

Upon arrival, we were greeted by Dr Vurthy and Mr Sopheary (coordinator for volunteers) at the airport. We were housed at the hospital guest house, also known as the "White House", which was about 2 km from the hospital. After lunch, we were given a short tour around the hospital and were introduced to some of the staff in the hospital. We started seeing patients in the afternoon. There were a few patients with CTEV, some children with neglected fractures, a case of fibular hemimelia and a few children with of limb length discrepancy. 3 cases were scheduled for operation the following day - a 5-year-old with untreated CTEV, a 10-year-old girl with malunited fracture of the lateral humeral condyle with cubitus valgus and a 5-year-old boy with neglected Monteggia fracture with dislocated radial head.

Patient with neglected fracture of the lateral humeral condy

We started surgery at 8.30am the following day and managed to see a few more outpatient cases in between the surgeries. We also attended a lunch talk on 'Pain' before proceeding with the surgeries.

Old displaced supracondylar fracture of the humerus

Lateral view

Osteomyelitis of the humerus

The following day was Saturday; Dr Saw with Dr Vurthy visited the post operative patients at the hospital while I took the opportunity to visit Angkor Wat and Angkor Thom. I managed to hire an excellent Tuk Tuk driver for the whole day and was very fortunate that the weather was good, with clear blue sky, even though September and October are the wettest months of the year.

On Saturday night, there was a party at the White House for one of the volunteers and almost everyone from the AHC was there. Under the starry night sky, we danced and chatted the night away with other volunteers and staff from the hospital.

White House

We left Cambodia on Sunday morning. Although this trip was short, we had managed to gain some knowledge with regards to the hospital and the patients, their needs and how we could contribute. We should be able to render assistance in terms of teaching and managing more complicated orthopaedic cases. As Malaysia is very near Cambodia, it would be possible to organise more frequent trips (once or twice a year) in the future as long as the AHC is not unduly burdened by these visits.

Personally, I have enjoyed this trip tremendously. The people are warm and helpful and Angkor Wat is a real marvel.

Angkor Wat

Angkor Wat at sunrise

"Be glad of life because it gives you the chance to live and to work and to play and to look up at the stars"
- Henry Van Dyke