Ministry tackles

As an unlicensed doctor sits in pre-trial detention on charges of murder and infecting his patients with HIV in Battambang province, the Ministry of Health is drafting a letter to provincial authorities nationwide, urging them to crack down on illegal medical practices immediately, according to a senior official. The new directive comes on the heels of a similar notice to provincial health departments on December 18, mere days after it emerged that some 70 people in Battambang’s Sangke district had been infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. The infection count has since soared well past 100, with most affected living in Roka commune. New figures were unavailable yesterday. “It is the same topic, but the second one will be sent directly to the capital-provincial halls to take an urgent action against [unlicensed health services],” said Sok Srun, director of the medical department at the Ministry of Health. “We are drafting it and it needs checking.” “We will also take immediate measures when we get any information or problems from the provinces,” he added. In the statement dated December 18, the Ministry of Health advised all municipal and provincial health institutions to move on “illegal health services” throughout the country. Four days later, Yem Chroeum, the local doctor whom residents are blaming for the outbreak, was hit with murder charges and “intentionally” infecting people with HIV. He was also charged with operating a clinic without a licence. “All directors of the health departments have to take serious measures against illegal health services defying the law and previous directives and send them to court,” reads the December 18 statement, signed by Dr Te Kuyseang, secretary of state at the Ministry of Health.