CNV:: 21/03/2022
New Fruits of Comprehensive Strategic Partnership and Steel Friendship Relations
Today, I am very happy to join His Excellency Wang Wentian, with His Excellency, Lok Chumteav, Ladies and Gentlemen, especially our doctors here to inaugurate the Cambodia-China Friendship Hospital Preah Kosomak building. HE Mam Bunheng has already made a report and Ambassador HE Wang Wentian gave a highlight regarding the construction of this great achievement. I remember that we had made many proposals for this achievement, and in one of my trips to Beijing to participate in the Belt and Road Forum, we signed in Beijing regarding the construction (of Cambodia-China Hospital Preah Kosomak). Today, this achievement happened representing the fruit of Cambodia-China relations, promoted to strategic partnership in all aspects and the renowned steel friend. Everything happened today started from the cooperation, trust and mutual help from the People’s Republic of China to our country.
I am very pleased to see that – if we were to count from day that we inaugurated the Cambodia-China Tbong Khmum Hospital – today, only a few days in between, we inaugurated this hospital (Cambodia-China Preah Kosomak). The Cambodian-Chinese hospital in Tbong Khmum is about US$ 50 million. This hospital (Cambodia-China Preah Kosomak) is about US$ 85 million. This is a huge help in the health sector for us to meet the welfare needs of our people. I still remember that in 1967 I came to this hospital, not to hospitalize myself. At that time, it was called a Buddhist Monk Hospital. My teacher, (a Buddhist monk) was ill. We came to sleep with and to take care of and serve the monks at that time. From 1967 until now, it has been almost 60 years. I have come again today, this time as Prime Minister. The life of a pagoda boy who used to come and rest here. The hospital is not far from Neakavorn pagoda […]
Ministry of Health Should Consider Allowing Legal Organ Transplants
Now, this hospital has become one of the largest hospitals in our city of Phnom Penh, with many departments, including department for organ transplants. Every time there is a need for one, people go abroad. I should say a little bit, in fact, Cambodia is able to work (on organ transplants) […] when you need a transplant, you have to go abroad […] in terms of capabilities, our experts can do that in (the country) since 2010. We already have this expertise at Preah Keto Mealea Hospital or the Army hospital, but we do not advertise. Some of our brothers/sisters are going abroad for transplants and they cost a lot of money. Well, I do not know what to do next. Although we do not allow them to go for local transplants, people went for them abroad. On this note, should we solve this problem in our country by giving it the possibility to become legitimate (or what)? Please consider this issue. In the past, there were foreigners who came to our country for kidney transplants […]
However, we do not allow for organic trafficking. Example: In order for it to be compatible between the recipient and the giver, it must have the same blood type […] they had to find them among family members, for example, donation from your brother or nephew, uncle or other people who volunteer to give. Doing this legally can keep people alive […] Chinese doctors came here and helped us, and our Cambodian doctors were able to do it […] we just did not speak about it […] I have supported many people. I think about 10 people whom I have helped to go abroad for kidney transplants. This hospital, in addition to kidney transplants, can also perform liver transplants. People do not die easily. I am still very strong though in liver, gall bladder, lungs and everything […]
Launching Postponed Projects after Covid-19 Disease under Control
[…] Let me tell you a little bit, in 1982, if you look at the Bangkok Post, they wrote Mr. Hun Sen is a rising star. The later generation, they said that Mr. Hun Sen is a strong man. I think in a little while I would be called a man of iron bones and copper skin. Last night, I was busy until after 12 o’clock […] yesterday, I received the Prime Minister of Japan, who will leave this morning. This morning I have to come to this place. This evening I have to meet with the officials in charge of the decentralization and de-concentration system. For the day after tomorrow, we will have the inauguration of national road 21. Now we owe a lot of programs, but we must do what we owe and are happy to do. In the Covid-19 phase, in the past we had a number of achievements, not yet inaugurated. We have to spend time to launch some of the programs/events postponed because of Covid-19 disease and after it is now under control […]
Cambodia Accepts Vaccines from All Sources
[…] Increasing our capacity/expertise is essential, in addition to the professional and ethical values of physicians, who must do their best for the well-being of our people. On the 18 March 2022, as HE Wang Wentian mentioned, I had a telephone conversation with President Xi Jinping (of the People’s Republic of China), in which we raised a lot of cooperation between Cambodia and China. At one point, I would like to reiterate that China has promised to give Cambodia up to 20 million doses of the Covid-19 vaccine. Of the 20 million doses, five million doses will arrive in Cambodia by the end of this month. This allows us to make further efforts. In military conception, the army commander has gotten weapons and ammunition in his hand to protect the people. We are struggling with this deadly disease, which Cambodia is now moving to a level that one can consider a country that has moved faster on managing Covid-19 in a timely manner in the region or in the world.
Of course, the Covid-19 is not over yet. We are not declaring victory. We only won small battles. We have not yet won the war against Covid-19. Winning a battle and winning a war mean different things. We used to win over the Delta battle and the Alpha battle, but we have not yet won the Covid-19 war. We are now fighting the Omicron war – some say it is the so-called modern disease war. We do not know yet what mutation is going to come after Omicron. People can question why Mr. Hun Sen is greedy. Cambodia has gotten in the warehouse some five million to six million doses of vaccines already […] but soon, there will be another five million doses coming, and Italy could be sending one million doses and Poland also could be sending another one million doses.
As long as you send over to Cambodia, we accept all of them. Do not ever say that Mr. Hun Sen is selfish. If they give us vaccines, we take them. We have already taken our share of ASEAN vaccine. Previously, we thought we would give our share to Myanmar, but the share was Pfizer vaccine. We could not ship it to Myanmar. We just kept it in our warehouse. Myanmar, however, does not lack vaccine either. Myanmar now has a vaccine production in the country. Today, HE Prak Sokhon, as the Special Envoy of the ASEAN Chair, will travel to Myanmar to find ways to mediate the situation, including providing humanitarian assistance in Myanmar […]
We should prepare a rolling vaccination plan through our available statistical data so that we can manage the time when certain kids can get vaccination locally. If we make such a rolling plan, children who turn three years old will get vaccination […] prepare the plan and get the vaccine ready at the grassroots when the children are old enough to be vaccinated in the community […] and let us wait for no campaign launching […]. We have to act incessantly, as we do not know when the Covid-19 will be gone […]
Aid from the People’s Republic of China – an Indicator of Good Cooperation
I would like to take this opportunity through His Excellency Wang Wentian to express my gratitude to the Chinese government and people for providing a grant for the construction of a hospital now transformed from a small one into a large and sophisticated one built with a budget of up to 85 million US dollars. Not a trivial matter for such help. We really benefit from cooperation. That is clear, and if there is no good cooperation with each other, who will trust to help us. They are motivated to help us as long as there is good cooperation in the relationship.
In my conversation with HE President Xi Jinping on the evening of the 18th, it was a warm atmosphere. Of course, my last meeting with him was on February 5, 2020 in Beijing, when they all fled China. I did the opposite. I went to China. Someone has written in the book, “a Smart Man Goes in the Opposite Direction.” I do not know how smart I was […] they write like that because at that time, some of our students also ran out of China.
I went there (to China) on the one hand was to show solidarity with Chinese friends during the battle with COVID-19, and on the other hand I wanted to send a message to all Cambodian students studying in China, including Wuhan, to live in calm with the Chinese people and fight against the COVID-19 […]. To be honest, I asked for understanding and forgiveness from President Xi Jinping about Cambodian students who were afraid of the Covid-19 disease and ran away, and they later requested to go back to school. A batch of students had already returned and there are some more wishing to return to school too. In addition, China will provide 500 scholarships for 2022 to 2025. This is an experience for us for the future.
Even now, there are 23 Cambodian families living in Ukraine. I do not order any Cambodian family there to run away from the Ukrainian people. Let just be there. How the people of Ukraine live, just live with them. Do not run away from each other. There was a time like 2013 when North Korea threatened war some people raised the issue of evacuating (Cambodian) workers from South Korea. The request had gone this far to criticize me for not caring about Cambodia citizens living in South Korea.
I have responded based on two reasons – how many planes would we need to transport 50,000 people. That is the first one. Secondly, talking about the problem of sharing bad and good with each other, we go to work in their country, when their people are facing difficulties, we ran away and the day in peace ask them to return. No, that is impossible.
With the advent of COVID-19 in China, I had to take a stand. Some countries take their citizens and students out, but I did not. Instead, I traveled to Beijing to meet President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang to show solidarity in the fight against COIVID-19, and to encourage Cambodian students to go one studying there. Live with Chinese people, and Chinese students […]
Collaborating with Chinese Doctors; Benefiting from Traditional Chinese Medicine and Boosting Local Vaccine Production
Thank you for joining today and thank you to our team of doctors. Hope our team of doctors will cooperate and take advantage of the development of traditional Chinese medicine. This is a part of intellectual property. We should try to collaborate and take benefit from the arrival of the 12 Chinese doctors, for whom, on behalf of the Royal Government of Cambodia, let me welcome them. […]. Please try to benefit from using this traditional Chinese medicine. We treated Covid-19 with Chinese medicine. They sent it to me too. I take the Chinese medicine for prevention. People living in Dubai, especially in the Middle East, use a lot of Chinese medicine. There are vaccines and there are medicines to treat the sickness.
There is a time I told Lok Chumteav Yok Sambath and HE Vongsey Visoth to buy me 50 million tablets immediately as Siem Reap had a sudden breakout of Covid-19. We used about seven million tablets […] the situation immediately urged me to seek an order of buy another 50 million tablets. After we review the situation, we finally ordered only 30 or 20 million tablets […] we must not leave our people sick and without medicine. This Chinese medicine is widely used in China itself and in other countries, including developed economies, especially in the Middle East.
Now that this team of Chinese doctors has arrived in Cambodia, it is necessary to cooperate with them and it is possible that they will transfer knowhow and technology to us and to the days to come, we must urge the local partners working with the Chinese side to establish a vaccine factory in Cambodia. In this way, we can ensure protection of the people’s health […]
Cambodia’s Success Is in Use of Vaccines
I used to say that it is not certain that a country with advanced technology can manage the pandemic. In the past, there was no shortage of people saying that the Cambodian health system was weak, but it was up to human capacity to respond to the situation. We need the latest technology, but if people are not up to date, it will not work. That our doctors are doing a good job there must be a clear and stable guidance. If we only have high technology, but people are not high in capacity, the ability to respond would not go anywhere. I have shared my experience with many countries […] that Cambodia’s successful experience is in the use of vaccines, and […] Cambodia’s method is a blossoming approach by blanketing Phnom Penh and Kandal province first and then sending to the provinces. We also chose the most irrigating ones before moving to another place […]
Youngest, and then Longest-Serving, and Now Prime Minister till Not Interested
Let me wrap up here. Any day is a day of speech. There will be another speech this afternoon. Tomorrow, I will receive the Pakistani Ambassador who will present the credential […] I have been doing this job for more than 37 years. I have been working as Prime Minister since when people said I was the youngest Prime Minister in the world, and then the longest-serving Prime Minister in the world. I became Prime Minister at the age of 32 years old and foreign minister at the age of 27 years old […] I have already confirmed that I will be the Prime Minister until I stop wanting to do so. I still can swing golf far off […] the New Year is approaching. This year we must celebrate the New Year. I reaffirm we must have the Khmer New Year. Let me also confirm about this misunderstanding caused by Facebook memories posting about double payment of salary for the months of March and April […] it was a memory from the postings of a few years ago and it popped up at the time that caused misunderstanding […]./.
