I have just written an article in “Voices of Young Buddhists” about a selfless man that dedicated his life to try and save as many life as he can in Cambodia. I made abit of adjustment on the article so that I can post it here.
Dr Beat Richner
His name is Dr Beat Richner, a native of Switzerland. He was sent to Cambodia in 1975 by Swiss Red Cross to work at the Kantha Bopha Children’s Hospital but his mission came to an abrupt end when the Khmer Rouge invaded the country. He went back to Switzerland and while continuing to pursue his medical career, he developed the character of Beatocello, and artistic role which he would slip into from time to time and which might best be described as that of a poetic and musical comedian or clown.
In 1991, he was asked by the Cambodian government to rebuild and manage the Kantha Bopha Children’s Hospital, which has been destroyed during the war, and he accepted the job. At the end of 1992, the hospital was back in operation but in a short span of a few years, the hospital was overcrowded. With Dr Beat Richner’s effort, a second hospital was being built and soon follow by the third, fourth and fifth. Four of the hospital is located in Phnom Penh while the other is located in Siem Reap.
From 1993 to 2010, the Kantha Bopha hospitals has treated 9 million outpatients, 900,000 inpatients and performed 90,000 surgical operations. Unofficial figure for 2010 is as follow:
108,000 Hospitalization
733,070 Outpatient treatment
580,000 Vaccination
16,100 Surgical operation carried out
91,136 pregnancy control
14,171 birth in the maternity ward
3,000 families received daily healthcare education
Oh, did I mentioned that all medical services are free of charge?
Dr Richner at Kantha Bopha Children’s Hospital 2010
Another fact that I want to share is that the operating cost for all these hospital is about USD30 million per annum.
Cambodian government contribute USD2 million annually
Swiss government contribute USD4 million annually
The balance were received from private donations.
95% of the fund received would be used to purchase medication, to pay for the salary of 2320 employees of the hospital, maintenance and running cost of the hospital. The balance 5% of the fund would be used to run the infrastruture of the foundation in Switzerland.
A big portion of the money received from private donations are usually collected after the “concert” held weekly (every Saturday at 7.15pm) by Dr Richner at Jayavarnam VII Hospital. Dr Richner would be playng on his cello for about 1 hour while speaking about is work in the children’s hospital in between play. And to end the concert, he would play a video which would bring tears to alot of people.
After the concert, donation are highly encourage. And for tourists who are able, they are encouraged to stop by the hospital to donate blood.
To find out more or make donation to the hospital, please visit the following website:
http://www.beat-richner.ch/
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