PHNOM PENH: The Cambodian-Chinese Friendship Preah Kosomak Hospital located in Toul Kork district, Phnom Penh, was officially inaugurated on Monday morning (21 March), under the presidency of the Prime Minister Hun Sen. The hospital took about three years to build from October 2018 to January 2022.
Speaking at the inauguration ceremony, the Minister of Health, Mam Bunheng, said that the new hospital was built at a cost of more than US $80 million with a grant from the Chinese government. The new hospital building is built upon a land area that spans across more than 13,000 square meters, and is 11 floors high with a length of 53 meters. The hospital building is divided into several departments and wings, such as outpatient, emergency, medical technology, general medicine, obstetrics, gynecology, and more, and has 400 beds for patients. Additionally, on the roof of the building, there is a helicopter landing pad which can carry a weight of around three to five tons.
The Minister of Health thanked the government and people of the People's Republic of China for their generous assistance in building this hospital.
The Chinese Ambassador to Cambodia, Wang Wentian, also spoke at the ceremony and said that this hospital will be the most modern state medical facility in Cambodia, also backed by professional Chinese health officials.
He said, "I would like to take this opportunity to represent the Chinese Embassy in Cambodia and welcome the arrival of 12 Chinese traditional health workers who have come to help in the fight against Covid-19. I would like to sincerely thanks the Ministry of Health of Cambodia and Preah Kosomak Hospital for supporting the Chinese team and providing employment as soon as possible.”
He continued that this is hospital embodies the support of the Chinese people to Cambodia, to help develop the health sector in the Kingdom and contribute to building up Cambodia-China relations.
Prime Minister Hun Sen then delivered his speech and recalled the process of signing on to this new achievement with China. He stated that he considers the result of the hospital building to be an achievement of the good cooperation between Cambodia and China, whose close friendship is like steel.
The Prime Minister continued that he considers the building of this hospital as a big show of help from China to the development of the Cambodian health sector, and to the people of Cambodia.
This is the second inauguration of a Chinese-aid funded hospital in the country, the first being the Cambodia-China Friendship Hospital in Tbong Khmum, which was inaugurated in early March of 2022.
